RvB: ReCoded
by CerriVane
Summary: Cerri Vane and Rose Kent have been best friends since high school; similar in minor ways and different in many others. Though a strange force is lurking over them, both question their sanity when finding themselves trapped inside an idiot-filled, but dangerous, new and unfamiliar world. Above all else terrifying out to get them, they'll also have to avoid Donut's apple crumble.
1. A Tear In The Jeans(Reviewed&Rewritten)

Cerri Vane and Rose Kent have been best friends since high school, they were similar in minor ways but vastly different. Yin and Yang; Cerri spent most of her time alone and in solitary silence, enjoying the time to reflect. However, she from time to time had to clock into the real world and focus on school, which she found quite tedious at times if it weren't for the end goal as well as the current benefits. Rose on the other hand was more of a people person, she couldn't let a day go by without spending time with close friends or calling family that was miles away. Shy and sweet, were the main words to describe, though Cerri would like to add short just to annoy her.

It wasn't hard for them to keep in touch, considering they had both moved to the same city thanks to dormitories and money built up in savings accounts since their birth. Living in New York City had it's benefits but also its disadvantages, for Rose it was that she was almost always busy at her training academy, meanwhile for Cerri it was that it could be a bit too noisy for her even though she spends half her time listening to ear shattering music.

Nonetheless, they still made time to see each other and get a peek into their individual lives. An example would be this day, in a simple cafe down a few streets down from Rose's apartment.

"Okay, you've finally forced me after eight long years, to watch all the fast and furious movies." Cerri announced with a sigh as she leaned back in her chair, the fair skinned blonde across from her leaned forward with a look of anticipation.

"And?" She waited for the verdict from the dark skinned girl, who continued to keep a tight lipped look of thought on her face before sitting in her chair properly.

"And...I found them a bit boring, now you keep your end of the bargain."

Rose was rather shocked, "What? How could you find them boring!" A smirk appeared on Cerri's lips as she fished through her pocket for her phone, taking it out to check the time.

"Eh, after watching Infinity War, all movies involving action have become underwhelming." She shrugged as she put her device back into her pocket, "Marvel, what can you do?"

"Yeah yeah, so time to watch the rest of...what was the show again?" They both rose from their seats, the ravenette looked at Rose exasperated as they exited the small establishment.

"Red vs Blue, how could you forget!"

"What are you so mad at me about? Sorry!" She began to laugh as they stayed standing on the sidewalk, Cerri turned and headed down the street with the blonde following closely next to her.

"Whatever. I just got a notice from my lab partner that our results were finished." She stretched a bit when they stopped at the corner, waiting for the light to change, "You could come along if you want."

Rose nodded softly as she teetered from one foot to the other, watching the light stay bright red, "Sure. You think you found what you're looking for?"

"Something boring. Most definitely." Cerri smirked but it soon faded as she stared off into the distance, "But I did find something else, I hadn't told my partner about it though…"

"What is it?"

"I mean, I think this is a brand new discovery. Most likely not, someone else must have seen it by now. I haven't even told anyone yet, you're the only one. I'm sure it's made of pure energy but...it's not a star."

"What do you mean?" The light finally turned green and they started migrating along with the large group of people that waited with them, "What do you think it is?"

"Don't know, visually it looks like a crack, I think? Like when you have a tear in your jeans." Cerri looked at her best friend with a goofy smile filled with wonder, "Or like the crack in time from Doctor Who."

"Okay, don't get your hopes up." Rose giggled causing Cerri to roll her eyes, but she was suddenly shoved to the side when the groups from both sides mixed in the middle.

"Hey!" Cerri shouted at the person when she turned back to look at them, but she froze the second their eyes connected. It was a kid, but the odd thing that caught her eye immediately was the powder blue hair with...bear ears that poked out of her head and sharp red eyes that seemed the same shade of blood. The mysterious girl had a mischievous toothy grin on her face, waving Cerri's phone around in her hand in a taunting manner before speeding off.

Cerri's eyes widened and she wasted no time breaking through and running after her "Hey! Get back here!" Rose followed suit, easily catching up with Cerri and making sure not to lose sight of the girl. She weaved through the crowded side walk like an expert, laughing out loud in excitement as she turned the corner into an alley, Cerri turned sharply as well, expecting to see the little thief at the end of the alleyway. Only to see it bare.

"What the...?" She stopped her running and looked around then upwards, utterly confused as to where the girl ran off to.

"Cerri!" She turned around when Rose called, who joined her side in mere moments, "Where's the girl?" She asked, doing the same as Cerri and looking around bewildered.

"Gone." She said faintly as she walked further in at a cautious pace, her footsteps emanating through the dead end alley. It seemed as if all the noise of the city that never slept had went silent, leaving Rose and Cerri on their own. "How could she disappear like that?" Cerri muttered to herself, her heart jumped when Rose screamed from behind and she turned a full one-eighty. Replaced by the little girl who's eyes were now glowing like stop lights at midnight.

"Where is she?" She demanded, not holding back her sudden anger. But the girl only stepped closer, but Cerri stood her ground, "Where the hell is she?"

"She's gone…" Her voice was clear, striking fear into the woman's heart almost immediately when it reached her ears, "Somewhere you're familiar with." She stumbled back slightly when her vision began to blur and her heart beat started slowing down, her efforts to keep her distance and stay alert meant nothing as this terrifying girl continued to approach her.

"Don't worry, she'll be alright." With a smirk, she gently shoved Cerri down and she fell down onto the concrete like a domino. "We're going to have some fun…" The world around her faded away like a vivid dream, being left alone in pitch black.

"...up..."

 _ _W-What?__ Her mind echoed when she heard someone calling out to her, the voice sounded familiar yet in a tone of desperation and urgency. She tried her best to reach out.

"...ake up...!"

She was starting to come to, warmth hitting her face like sunrays in the middle of July. But it was soon blocked by a cold and intimidating presence, multiple in fact. Some softer than others, she tried peeling her eyes open.

 _ _W-Where am I?__

"Wake up!"

Cerri shot up from the ground with a gasp, her eyes darting around only to see she was surrounded by tall figures dressed in colorful military armour. Her breath was quick but she tried to calm down, but her heart only beated faster as the barrels of guns were pointed directly at her face.

"W-Where am I?" She asked, trying to be as calm as possible. "Where's Rose?" She froze in place, her breath hitches when she sees his finger tighten a bit around the trigger of his gun just a bit.

"Stay quiet and don't move." Her eyes stayed glued to his visor, his voice deep and threatening with no hesitation, "Now...tell me, who you are and how you got here." She kept her mouth shut, recollecting her thoughts. She slowly began to recognize the man in the armour by his voice, then began examining the palette of his suit.

 _ _Is this who I think it is?__ She thought to herself, her eyes widening as her mouth fell open as she tried to speak.

"A-Agent...Wash-" She was cut off when another one of the soldiers decided to input his opinion.

"Wash, chill! It's just a chick!" She paused once more in slight fear and panic, slowly turning around to see two familiar soldiers dressed in standard blue and aqua respectively.

"Or maybe it could be another shark lady!"

"Tucker. Caboose. Quiet." The cobalt blue one said strictly, trying to keep the entire situation under control and kept his attention on her. She only stared at them with wide saucer-like eyes, her jaw drilled shut once again as she tried refrain from yelling.

 _ _What the hell is going on!__


	2. The Less Civilized Way(R&R)

_This is absolutely asinine._ She tried to to contain the bundle of feelings stirring within her, _I can't believe I'm here._

Cerri never expected her day to be this strange, to be honest she never really expected anything in her life to be strange or exciting. She was a simple girl who just wanted to go through university in peace and continue on with her life, and hopefully not die of unnatural causes as a bonus for being on Santa's nice list.

"Who are you and how'd you get here?" The one in blue armour with yellow accents spoke once again, slowly losing his patience with the woman before her who kept staring speechless.

"Wash, chill out." The one in aqua interjected, his stature relaxed, "You're scaring the girl."

"I'm not a girl." She finally spoke only to correct him, however kept a meek tone so she wouldn't come off as a threat, "I'm gonna be 21 soon." She attempted to get up, but her legs failed her along with her brain and fell down immediately, a hand shot up to her head as searing pain decided to make itself known.

 _Did I hit my head or something?_

"I call dibs on her!" Tucker exclaimed sounding excited, Cerri glared at him slightly.

"What am I, a fucking video game? You can't just reserve me for your own personal pleasure," He was taken by surprise at the sudden change in attitude from this once silent girl, however that didn't stop his mind from persuading him to smirk and say his signature catchphrase. But the black haired woman beat him to it, "and if you say 'Bow Chicka Bow Wow' I will shoot you."

"How did you...?" She quickly shut my mouth and lowered her hand, the three of them stared at Cerri in disbelief rather surprised. But the silence was broken by a sudden shriek, all their heads snapped to the other side of the vast canyon to see someone running over the bridge.

"Oh dear lord…" The cobalt one sighed exhausted already, his primary focus was left to watch the unknown person run towards them

"Is that.." Cerri muttered to herself as she squinted to get a closer look, her eyes widened when she recognized the long blonde hair that whipped around, "Rose!"

She scrambled to get off the ground and sprinted towards her friend, incredibly relieved that she was not only alive but also in one peace. Rose in turn began to sprint towards her when she recognized the jet black head of hair, "Cerri!" They ran into each other's arms, rejoicing happily amongst themselves and had completely forgotten about the weapon wielding men only a few feet away.

"Oh my god, I thought you were dead!"

"Yeah, same here." They started to laugh a bit out of relief, completely ignoring their surroundings and focusing on one another. That is until someone's cough interrupted the reunion, they both directed their attention to the blue soldiers in the distance, especially the one in particular who has seemed to establish himself as the leader.

"Oh yeah, I forgot we were here." Cerri muttered, her happy mood receding once she saw the guns again. The leader, who had repeatedly been called Wash, took a step towards the pair whom stayed where they were, "I'm not going to ask again, tell us who you are." The two women shared a knowing glance, taking a quick look around at the new area and bolted in one direction as fast as their still waking legs could.

"Hey! Get back here!"

They continued onward, hearing the heavy footsteps that followed falling behind as they neared what looked like the wreckage of a battleship.

"This is definitely not home…" They both found an entrance and dashed inside, hoping to lose the gaggle of colourful men. Rose's eyes were wide as saucers as she looked around, not sure how to

process where she was and how this all came to be.

"Are you sure this was a good idea…?" She asked, her voice practically non-existent as they made their way down corridor after corridor. Hoping to find a good hiding place to stay until they could come up with a plausible plan, or something to defend themselves with while they question the reality of the situation.

"Would you be surprised if I said no?" Cerri replied, looking back at her friend a bit nervous then looked ahead, "Come on, we can stay here for a bit." She snuck behind of few crates piled up, labelled with the words 'CHARON INDUSTRIES'. Her eyes were glued onto the crate, feeling as though she had seen those words before.

"Cerri?" She blinked and looked Rose, her attention returning to the situation at hand. Her friend was trying to keep as calm as possible now that they had a few moments to themselves until they were inevitably found, "Could you at least tell me where we are?"

"Now, this may sound like I lost my mind but…" The dark skinned looked around, taking a deep breath as the words almost escaped her, "I'm pretty sure we're in the 11th season of Red vs Blue."

"What?!"

Cerri slapped her hand over Rose's mouth when she exclaimed out loud, silencing her and listening for if anyone had heard them before slowly removing her hand, "Sorry...but it's a show. Th-That can't be possible…!"

"I know, but it might be because of that Silent Hill kid." The introvert frowned deeply at the thought of that terrifying little girl who must have been responsible for this mess, who knew they'd be hunted down like animals in such a strange place.

"Please don't say it's magic or something like that." Rose begged as she poked her head out from the behind the metal crates, briefly looking in both directions before kneeling back down, Cerri held a ponderous expression on her face with crossed arms.

"No, that was my second guess." She replied rather sarcastically earning a soft glare, but continued nonetheless, "My first would be a sudden abnormal phenomenon, but I feel like it has do more with that new discovery I made. Remember, the tear in the jeans?"

Rose sighed heavily, not sure what kind of input she could have on this other than that none of it made sense, however her eyes tripled in size when she heard footsteps coming their way, "Ssh…' They both stopped, holding their breaths in fear of making even the smallest of sounds.

"Hello~ Shark ladies," The one in standard blue came around the corner with his weapon wielded tightly in his hand and his finger around the trigger, ready to fire, "are you playing Hide and Seek?"

"Who is that?" Rose asked me in a hushed tone, trying to keep her voice as low as possible as he continued to come closer. Cerri cupped her mouth with one hand so that her voice wouldn't be heard by the incoming threat.

"Caboose, he's kind of stupid...but also very trigger happy."

Rose felt her heart drop at the thought of getting shot repeatedly, "Oh." It seems that Caboose had heard her and looked in their direction, they ducked even lower to make sure that he saw nothing of them.

Rose could practically feel his stare through the crate and stared at Cerri in a rising panic, "What do we do?" Cerri tried to think of something, looking around to see if there was anything that could help. But then stopped trying to come up with an intricate and waited for Caboose's back to be turned to them, her head popped up like a goffer as she spoke in a hushed voice.

"Caboose, you hear something in the distance."

"I do?" He pondered for a moment before a bright smile took him over, "I wonder what it is!' His footsteps receded down the corridor and Cerri waited until he turned the corner, a sigh of relief escaped her and she glanced at Rose who gave her a look of disbelief.

"What?"

"I-" She stopped herself before she could even begin to ask how that worked, she heaved a sigh and let it be, "Nothing, maybe we should split up so we can find something to defend ourselves."

"Everyone except for us is heavily armed with armour and weapons," Cerri stated bluntly, "that could end my life sooner than expected." She stayed where she was, behind planted on the ground and simply hoping for the best. Her friend rolled her eyes, and tried to reason with her stubborn companion.

"Cerri, if we stay here they'll find us soon enough and probably kill us. Especially that pale blue one," She remembered the aura he gave off, incredibly hostile towards their very existence, it caused a shiver to run down her spine and she stood from her place. "I want to at least go down fighting."

"Fighting for what? They aren't actually going to kill us, Sarge won't kill women. Ever." The ravenette stood as well, becoming unsure of her words, "I think. And Washington probably won't kill us...probably."

"Whatever, let's just go already."

Before Cerri could stop her, the short girl dashed away and around the corner that Caboose had gone down as well. She was hesitant in following, looking in the other direction and deciding to go in the opposite direction.

 _She did say to split up…_

"If I get shot, I will fucking kill her." She muttered to herself as she cautiously wandered around the surprisingly stable wreckage of this large ship, her hand dragged across the cold metal walls as she looked around. She couldn't believe it, this was all real and she was standing inside a spaceship. She could feel her heart pounding through her chest but couldn't tell if it was from fear or sheer excitement.

Cerri knew that Rose would be fine since she's in the middle of training, her goal was to be an field agent for CSIS back home. Which was odd considering at times the young adult would stutter like an old record, it was her closest friends that would do most of the talking back in high school so she wouldn't have to and her anxiety wouldn't shoot through the roof. Cerri, on the other hand, was just a senior student in university trying to get a measly PhD in Astrophysics and then Philosophy. She barely had anything in terms of experience that could help her in the current predicament.

 _Well..._ She paused for a moment when she reached another corner and stopped, _technically I have a ton of knowledge if this really is Red vs Blue but-_

"Hello?" She froze in place, not moving a single muscle and does her best to recognize who was calling, "lil ladies, come out-come out wherever you are!"

She immediately recognized it as Sarge when he called them out by those ridiculous pet names, she took a few breaths to relax her stiff joints and quickly moved to a stack of crates just across from her. Peeking her head out, she watched them enter, the trio of Reds that seemed to be attached by the hip despite their distaste for each other. She quirked a smile before focusing on her initial purpose for hiding.

"Do you think they went the other way?" The one in maroon-Simmons asked as he peered around, a bit shaky. Cerri ducked behind the crates before they could look her way, the one in orange- Grif was indifferent to entire situation and continued on walking..

"Who cares? It's only two chicks, we can take 'em." He commented as he looked around leisurely, not quite paying enough attention to feel the dark brown eyes glaring at the back of his head. She ignored him for a moment and quickly looked around for something that could make some noise and found what looked like a wrench of sorts, she quickly snatched it and tossed it far away in the opposite direction in which she wished to go.

Sarge and Simmons were the first to hear the loud clanking as it hit the ground, "This way!" The two of them ran off and Grif followed closely behind, not wasting his energy on running and simply walked at his own pace. The young woman waited patiently for him to disappear down the hall before moving on, and trying her best to keep her footsteps light, but her boots had other plans.

"I hope Rose is doing good." She whispered to herself as she kept on moving forward, not noticing the figure hiding as she passed them. The barrel of a gun poked her in the back and she took that as her cue to stop in her tracks, her heart stopped and her mind froze. Realizing she was literally a quickly pull of a trigger away from a split-second death.

Agent Washington stood behind her, keeping a steady grip on his weapon as he rose it from her back to the back of her head. His eyes were cold and calculating, "Well, it's going to be a whole different story for you." She winced at the level of passive anger in his voice, regretting the last few minutes they spent basically playing hide and seek with armed soldiers.

"Fuck."

Meanwhile, Rose had continued on with her search for any weapons within her proficiency. But she couldn't help but worry about her friend in the back of her head, how she could be held at gunpoint right now and on her knees waiting to be killed or held captive for God knows how long.

She shook her head as she slowed her pace so she could carefully creep around, _Don't worry too much..._ She attempted to convince herself, _if they're as harmless as she thinks they are then she'll be fine._ She quickly turned the corner, looking around briefly before moving on, _let's just hope she doesn't get herself into anymore trouble._

"Caboose, did you find those chicks yet?" At the sound of a voice only a few octaves lower than her own, she hastily hid behind the corner and listened in as she did her best to sneak a peek at who was speaking. Dark blue and aqua, she recognized only one as Caboose whom she had seen not even a few minutes ago.

"No," Said fool shook his head, but then thought back, "but someone did tell me there was a noise here. So I came to see what it was!"

"Wait, what? You idiot! That was them!" The aqua one scolded him looking between the ends of the corridor before running in the direction Rose was hiding in, "Come on, they could still be there!" She held her breath and watched as they passed right by her, she released her breath and watched them leave before turning the corner and walking down the hall they were just in.

 _He really is kind of dumb,_ She continued on looking around, the cheerful tone the blue had sticking with her a bit. How could someone in the middle of war be so...optimistic?

She spotted a ton of items bunched up in the corner, she ran over as quickly and silently as she could and picked one up to examine it. It close to a pistol, but not quite, having something on the end of it. "Wow, convenient."

She checked out if there was any spare ammo but could only fit one or two in her pockets, she felt a bit safer knowing the odds were even...sort of. She went on to make sure that each corridor was secure as she tried to find Cerri, it felt like second nature for her as she gripped the weapon tightly and scanned at the corner every once in awhile.

 _I wonder what this is anyway,_ She thought to herself as she crept down the hall, there are weapons and a bunch of crates. Probably a cargo ship, that would explain the huge droid she passed by a while ago. _Now, where is the entrance?_

"Hey you!" Her breath hitched as she spun around and aimed her weapon, the Reds were rushed towards her and she wasted no time pulling the trigger. Suddenly, their attention was directed to a glowing red light from the rather large round that stuck to Grif's head.

"What the hell?" Before they could react, Rose loaded up the gun and fired at Sarge this time. They both began to flash as she back up slowly.

"Holy crap!" Simmons exclaimed, realizing what exactly was stuck to their heads and dropped his gun. He took hold of the thing on Grif's helmet and tried to pull it off, only to stumble back when he lost his grip, "It's a grenade! Sarge take it off hurry!"

Rose shrieked when said grenade went off, both Grif and Sarge dropped to the ground and she rushed over, "Oh my god! I am so so so sorry!"

"What did you do to them!" They both dropped to their knees to check on them, pulling off their helmets to see how much damage was actually dealt. Panic finally settling in for the both of them as they examined the heads of Simmon's fellow team mates.

"The helmets absorbed most of the shock the shock, there's only a few scratches." She patted Grif's cheek to try and get him to stay conscious, but he only groaned in response and wanted nothing more than to close his eyes.

"Sarge, stay awake!" Simmons lifted Sarge up and had the red soldier lean on him before reaching down to grabbed his helmet, his commanding officer simply groaned and grumbled. Rose did the same for Grif but had more trouble with him.

"Oh jeez!" She exclaimed as Grif leaned on her, she tried to even out the wait, "You're heavy!" She grabbed his helmet as well, ditching the grenade launcher and started walking.

"We need to get them back soon, y-you guys can capture me or whatever, later!"

After she had been captured, Cerri now waited at the entrance of the shipwreck with Washington across from her still having the gun aimed at her in case she tried anything like last time. However, after the initial panic, she had resorted to staring at the man relentlessly as he stared back. They had done this for a while, not taking their eyes off each other.

"So…" He finally spoke, clearing his throat and looking off to the side for a bit before staring back at the woman before him, "Ready to talk?"

"Are you real?"

His brows shot up, rather surprised by her question and the serious look on her face. She looked...lost? No no, desperate was a better description, "I'm sorry?"

"Are you-" She stopped herself, blinking a few times and cleared her throat in turn. Cerri had realized how crazy her question actually sounded, but tried again, "Are you...real?"

"Yes. I am. Why do you ask?"

"No reason in particular…" Her voice a bit more clear, the weight on her shoulders lifting a bit, Washington sighed before speaking again.

"You better hope your friend didn't cause any trouble."

"I don't like the sound of hope." The dark skinned girl stated a matter-of-factly as she crossed her arms and leaned against the wall behind her, "I like the sound of possibilities better."

"Right...well I liked the sound of silence, but then that was disrupted when you two showed up."

Cerri looked him over for practically the tenth time since they had stayed planted in their spots opposing one another, "You know, you probably shouldn't get into the habit of losing track of the interrogation. You're starting to sound like a stuttering fool trying to get a girl's number."

"E-Excuse me?" Once again, Washington found himself at a loss with this woman's shift between that sense of slight hopelessness then snide fearlessness. Or perhaps it was simply a lack of care. Both jumped at the sound of an explosion in the distance and turned towards the wide entrance,

"Is that the trouble you were hoping for?" She asked, glancing back at the freelancer who approached her and grabbed her by the arm rather roughly, it hurt a bit but she didn't waste her breath on protesting or complaining. He dragged her back inside the maze of a ship and tried to navigate the best he could towards the sound of the blast, Cerri frowned deeply and looked towards the left and proceeded to point in that direction

"That way." The cobalt soldier took a quick glance at her before complying and headed down the corridor, but Cerri didn't like the feeling of being dragged along. When they came to a stop, she felt his grip loosen and took this chance to wriggle out of his grip, he glared at her slightly and tried to grab her arm again.

"Hey, don't try and run off again." She huffed and started running regardless and he followed immediately, "Just follow me, you can bitch about this later!" They ran for what seemed for a short time and as Cerri turned the corner bumped into someone, knocking heads and stumbling back in a flash of pain.

"Shit!" She cursed as she rubbed her forehead, she looked up to see Rose stood there balancing Grif with his helmet off and barely conscious, with Simmons at her side doing the same for Sarge "Rose? What the hell happened?"

"I-I found a grenade launcher and tried to defend myself the best I could." She explained with a guilty expression, looking down at her feet as she continued to keep Grif up the best she could, "It didn't end well."

"Yeah, I can see that." She quickly went over to Grif's other arm and put it around her shoulders, but became slightly overwhelmed by his weight, "Jesus christ!" Cerri took a second to adjust before looking at Wash who looked them both over briefly.

"We'll get them back to the base so we can patch them up." With a nod, they began moving but once they took a step, shots were fired making both girls shriek and duck slightly. Their eyes shot up to see Caboose standing there with his gun aimed at them.

"Did I get them?!" He asked in anticipation, he rushed over but Washington placed an arm on his chest to stop him.

"Caboose, stand down. Everything's under control." He gently pushed the man's gun down to the ground as Cerri rose from her crouching position along with her partner, muttering, "Wow, you change gears pretty quick." She looked at Rose was slowly but surely recovering from the shots fired, luckily not injured.

"Okay," Everyone directed their attention to the leader of blue team, who now stared directly at both the armourless women, "everyone stay calm and you two. it's time to have a...talk."

Rose and Cerri exchanged a glance before Cerri said out loud, "You know, in hindsight. We could've solved this in a more civilized way."

"Ya think?"


	3. Interrogation turned Conversation(R&R)

Simmons had been sent back to red base along with his team mates who were treated, bandages wrapped around their heads to help heal the slim scars that bled. But they've survived much worse, it was nothing like the numerous ridiculous scenarios they were put through over the past few years. Nonetheless, Cerri and Rose were contained and placed on a bunk to sit as the blues tried to figure out what to do with the two troublemakers.

"Good," Washington spoke, satisfied with the finished knot on the rope that bound Cerri's wrists, she tried to move and winced when her restraints bit at her skin harshly, "now that we have you two contained, we can talk. Let's start with your names."

With a sigh, the African woman adjusted herself once more and had something poke out of the back pocket of her jeans, "Wow, you really are flirting. Listen sweetheart, I don't do one night stands." She mocked him openly, not as afraid as she was before and tried to buy time. Rose hadn't noticed what her companion was doing and only grimaced.

 _It's starting already…_

Washington glared at the mischief maker through his visor, holding his rifle tightly and tried to keep his cool for as long as possibly. But this girl whom he had only met not even an hour ago was pushing it, "Don't call me that, and I'm only saying this once. I am not flirting with you."

"So, you're demanding?" She inquired, snatching the switch blade from his pocket and flicking it open and slipping the sharp blade between the her binds.

"No."

Her brow quirked upwards, "Ordering?"

"No!"

"Jesus fucking Christ, if you want me to submit tell me upfront." She smirked slightly, seeing him slowly becoming more and more irritated. Finding her their little game quite amusing as she continued cutting through the rope as quickly yet discreetly as possible, "You've already got me tied up, so let me in on the safeword."

"Man, this one's got a thing for you Wash." Tucker couldn't help but join in on the fun a little, catching onto Cerri's game and contributing to Washington's rising anger. The freelance glanced at his teammate with a frown.

"Tucker, be quiet."

"This really isn't the time to piss people off," Rose finally decided to speak up, a bit wary of both of them and their playtime, "they have guns. He could shoot us right now, I'm sure he wouldn't care." She attempted to reason with her friend, who thought nothing of it and gave a lopsided grin. She had stopped cutting her the moment, wriggling her wrists to feel the rope has loosened significantly, "Relax, I'm just fucking with him."

"Bow Chicka Bow Wow."

"Tucker," Wash snapped at the aqua soldier, "shut up."

"You know what I meant," Cerri gave one last swipe with the knife before tucking the blade back in place and pushing the switch blade back in her pocket, "I am a mind fuck."

"Does that mean that she does sex stuff with brains?" Caboose asked absentmindedly as he looked to his comrades for an answer, but his attention was directed to Rose who sighed aggravated.

"No. It means that she's a sadomasochistic girl, who just loves to drive people insane with her strange obsessions and _philosophical mind_." She stressed the last bit almost insultingly, but the tall woman next to her merely gave a mocking smile in return, "Rosey darling, what have I told you about complimenting me so frequently."

"It's not a compliment!" The blonde cried out, suddenly fed up with her best friend's attempt at being humorous, "I don't know anyone but you who find's something like that a compliment!"

"Both of you, shut up!"

Everyone's eyes were now on Washington, they could feel the flaring anger around him as he approached Cerri and aimed his rifle directly between her eyes. She tensed slightly, realizing she may have taken the game a bit too far and held her breath. Doing her best to keep a calm demeanour.

"I tried to be nice but I have don't have the patience for you," He was practically poking the skin her her forehead as he demanded, "tell us who you are and where you came from. Or you'll have a bullet between the eyes."

 _If I piss him off anymore he might actually shoot me,_ Her mind began to race, feeling all eyes on her now. Rose was stunned in silence, afraid to say something that might set him off again, _but if I tell him all the info he needs now he'll probably let us live. But…who would honestly believe us?_ Her brows furrowed as she released the breath she was holding, glaring back at the same intensity.

"Go ahead."

Rose's eyes widened in shock, "What? Cerri-!"

"You heard me. Even if we tell you who we are and where we're from, you most likely won't believe us." Her eyes darkened and her frown deepened as she continued on without a wavering word, "Besides, if you do kill us? That'll be more blood on your hand."

"And what makes you think I'll feel burdened by your deaths." Washington asked, humouring the woman. She didn't hesitate for a second, although her heart pounded in her ears and she'd hoped they couldn't hear it.

"Because you aren't the same as you were before, are you? Death changes people. It hurts. I'm sure you wouldn't want to add two more innocent lives to your kill streak. But by all means," She leaned in and placed her head against the gun bravely, "go ahead and pull the trigger if I'm wrong."

They stayed there for what seemed like an eternity, each second that strolled by prolonging Cerri's accumulating fear. Washington only stared at her wide eyed behind his golden hued visor, she had some serious balls for someone in her position. Her words resonated with him, like she had experience in the matter herself.

Rose watched the silent conversation between as they debated who would lose this short grudge match, her throat tightened even though she wanted to beg and cry for him to spare her. Her heart had practically stopped altogether along with her breath as she waited in agonizing silence, the cobalt man slowly lowered his weapon from her friend's forehead, letting her lean back and straighten her back.

"Alright...we won't kill you. But I still want answers," He glanced at Rose who finally took a breath of relief, "from the both of you."

"Thanks for the reassurance," Cerri's smile returned almost immediately, she pulled her hands out from behind her back but still had the rope around her wrists, "now we can tell you what you need to know."

With a sigh, Rose had recalled that Cerri had her switch blade on her. She squirmed a bit before clearing her throat to get their attention, "Could someone help me out of my ropes...please?"

They both stayed seated on the bunk set free from their bonds, Cerri leaned against the wall and relaxed while Rose stayed seated and upright. "I'm Rose Kent," She introduced herself a tad bit shy before gesturing to her partner, "and this is Cerri Vane. One of my best friends. We're both from the 21st century, the year 2021 to be exact."

"H-How is that possible? We're centuries past the 21st." Washington inquired a bit slack-jawed, Cerri sighed and and pressed her back up against the wall.

"We are fully aware of the impossibility, let us explain the rest of our little hero journey first."

"You see," Rose gave a quick overview, looking down at her lap and occasionally glancing up at them, "we both live in New York City. I-I was training to be part of CSIS, while Cerri was studying Astronomy-"

"Question." Tucker interrupted her without hesitation, both girls looked at him and waited for him to inquire, "What's CSIS?"

"Basically the FBI but for the great north." All of them stared at Cerri slightly confused with the exception of Rose, Caboose stressed his brain to try and interpret what she meant by that. She heaved a sigh in annoyance, "Canada."

"Oh."

"Anyways," She continued, deciding to take over the story and get to the point, "before we got here it was just another day for us. We were hanging out and were heading back to the observatory when this creepy little kid snatched my phone and we chase after her, then we end up in an alley and got knocked out. We speculate she ended up bringing us here, that would explain why I woke up with you guys surrounding me."

"And I woke up with the Reds surrounding me." Rose added, looking over to Cerri who finalized it all, "And now we're here."

The room went silent for what felt like the millionth time that day, Washington glanced at Tucker then Caboose, who did the same. Trying to silently assess their whimsical explanation. Cerri intuitively knew where this was going to go when Tucker started to speak, "Yeah, no offence but, that story sounds ridiculous."

"Well, all that reassurance has been washed out of my system." The tall ravenette hopped off the bed and stretched, "Rose, we're going to die today, it was nice knowing you."

"Now hold on," Washington hastily placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her, she rose an eyebrow skeptically trying to read the tone of his voice, "We aren't going to kill you. We just need proof." The two young women looked at each other and then started looking through their pockets, it seemed as though they were empty which seemed impossible.

"What the hell?" Cerri muttered to herself, she continued to dig through but found nothing. They were bare and clean with the exception of her switchblade. Rose had finally found something in her left pocket and pulled it out her phone. Her brows scrunched up as she examined it, it seemed much more scratched then the last time she saw it. It looked like it aged significantly. Nonetheless she showed it to the blue soldiers.

"Well, I do have my phone on me." Cerri stared at her with wide eyes, and points at her accusingly.

"How come you get to keep your phone, but mine gets fucking stolen!" She exclaimed, suddenly acting like a bratty child. Rose merely gave a mocking smile and waved it in her friend's face.

"Now, you can't go blaming me for something like that."

"Wow," Tucker looked it over, his brow raises as he glances up at Rose, "real old iPhone. Like, extremely old."

Washington pursed his lips, examining the piece of technology before backing off, "I suppose that's enough proof...but we're in no condition to help you. We're stranded ourselves."

"Really," Cerri said in a dry tone, looking out the makeshift window to stare at the large wreckage of the cargo ship, "we could never have guessed…"

"Yeah…"

"Is there any way we can contact anyone at all?" She looked back to the leader of the so-called team, he continued to look out the window.

"We are trying to get our communications tower to work," He glanced between the two women, "but we aren't having much luck, other than that we have nothing. We've been trying to ration our food and our supplies."

"Hold on," Rose pointed up to the lights in the room that were on, not even flickering once, "if you've been rationing everything. How do you have the power to keep all of your equipment online?"

"Well, the crashed ship still has a lot of fuel to burn. We hooked it up and it's our power supply."

"Aren't you worried that it might run out?" Cerri asked as she started walking around the room a bit, to keep her legs from falling numb and asleep. Tucker followed her movement with prying eyes, he gave a shrug.

"It's almost limitless, so who cares."

"Alright then," Rose smiled slightly, removing herself from the bed and stretching her own stiff limbs. She glanced at Cerri who smirked, "I guess we'll do whatever we can to help."

"Really. That's it." Washington stared at Cerri wide eyed, "You're just going to help us?" She walked towards him, stuffing her hands in her jacket pockets with a slight shrug.

"Yeah, why not? I mean if there's even a slight chance of finding a way for us to be found, then I'm all for it."

"Huh. Alright then."

"Yes! More friends!" Caboose exclaimed happily, but quickly started backing away suspiciously, "Wait, they've gotten their shots right?"

Rose glanced at Cerri a bit confused as to how the blue man's logic worked, but her close friend only gave a cheeky smile in return. The blonde sighed, "What exactly could we help with?"

"First, we should get you both somewhere to sleep at least."

She sat on her now designated bunk, having removed her jacket and watched Cerri pace around the room with a relaxed smile.

"Well, this is going much smoother than I thought."

"Yeah, I honestly thought we were gonna die." She mumbled, cupping her cheek in her hand as she looked around the rather small room before looking back to the African Canadian, "You did gamble our lives there."

"Hey, I knew what I was doing. I was forty-five percent sure that he wouldn't shoot us, from what I've seen of RvB he wouldn't have shot us." Cerri grinned, coming back to the realization that they were in fact in one of her favourite web series.

"Forty-five percent isn't a good thing." Rose countered bluntly, pointing an accusing finger.

"Well, it's better than nothing. But right now, I'm more worried about what'll happen to all of us in the future."

Cerri began to remove her jacket, no longer feeling the need to wear it. Rose blew a strand of hair out of her face as she lay back on the bed, "You've watched Season 11 and 12 more than once, so mind telling me what's going to happen?" She glanced at her companion who's movements slowed down, clearly pondering on what was meant to happen next in this convoluted storyline.

"I...don't remember."

"Goddammit Cerri!" Said woman jumped at the uncharacteristic outburst of the short blonde, she sat up and stared at Cerri in disbelief.

"What!"

"You always rant about how awesome this show is and you know almost every word by heart, yet you forgot the information that we needed the most to survive!" Rose's hands flew up as she yelled at her friend, Cerri didn't seem to react the way Rose wanted. Placing her arms on her hips with pursed lips.

"Look, the worst that could happen is that we get shot and I'll probably be prepared for the pain in the heat of the moment. Plus, you're trained for combat so you have better chance of living in comparison to me. Our chances of survival are thirty to ten percent, in your favour."

"How are you calculating all this?" Rose asked, gradually losing confidence in the situation as she watched Cerri started to undress.

"I'm not, I'm only guessing. But it's more or less accurate in this universe." She threw off her icy blue sweater onto her bed next to her jacket, feeling much better without the suffocating fabric hugging her. She headed for the door, but Rose stopped her in her tracks.

"Hold on," The chocolate toned girl looked at her friend, "do not go out there without a shirt."

"But it's hot."

"Yeah, but there are other people here. That's a bit, I don't know, indecent?"

"This whole series is indecent Rosey," She said nonchalantly, then proceeded to puff up her chest with a smirk, "plus I'm sure a bunch of grown men-except for Tucker-can handle one woman in a bra."

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure they won't be able to handle D's." She countered pointing at Cerri's chest, she poked Rose's in return which annoyed the now blushing blonde. "They wouldn't be able to handle yours either."

"Yeah, but at least I'm not flaunting them around." The flustered girl crossed her arms to cover her chest, embarrassed that they were even having this conversation.

Cerri let out an exasperated sigh and went back to grab her sweater, putting it back on, "Fine, I'll wear my fucking shirt."

"Thank you."

She pushed the door open to see Tucker tumble back and fall on his ass, "Agh!" He let out a cry of pain, sitting up slowly and groaning. Cerri stared down at him with her brows furrows, not surprised or impressed in the slightest.

"You might want to work on being a bit more stealthy." His helmet shot up to look up at her, slightly stunned in fear of getting beaten to death.

"...Uh."

Quickly, she dismissed what he was trying to do and looked down the hall, "Where's Washington?" Tucker still sat there, the feeling wearing off and he pointed outside.

"He's at the comm tower, and Caboose just well," The man with dreads shrugged, "left."

"Alright," She walked off as Tucker stared after her, Rose popped her head out and stared after her as well, "I'll be looking for some scissors if you need me. Or taking a walk… " She stopped halfway down the hall, turning back, "And Tucker? If you try to use us as personal stimulation again, I will hang you from the comm tower." The girl flashed a quick smile before stepping out of the base, leaving the aqua hued marine alone with Rose. Said woman looked down at Tucker with her cheeks growing bright red before closing the door. Tucker sat there for a moment before regaining his voice.

"Man, they are weird. But still hot."


	4. Settling In

When Dos-Point-O and Rose's dialogue are in italics, they are speaking Spanish.

It had only been about an hour since Rose and Cerri had settled in, and rather quickly. Everyone was back to what they usually did while Cerri strolled about the canyon and Rose had decided to check up on the Reds.

She crossed the small bridge and approached the three, Grif and Simmons were conversing while Sarge was working on something.

"...I just think it's strange that we're not already bowing down to our robot overlords."

"I'm a cyborg, you wanna bow down to me?" Simmons offered, but Grif replied immediately.

"Pass."

"Fuck you meatsack, your logic is flawed." He said imitating a robot's usual tone.

"You are the biggest fucking nerd. You know that right, I mean you really know that?"

"You must construct additional pylons."

Rose tried to hold back a laugh, being reminded a bit of her circle of friends. They weren't far from them.

"Um, excuse me?" They all stopped to looked at Rose who stood a couple feet away.

"Hey! You're that chick that shot me and Sarge!" Grif said pointing his gun at her, she immediately put her hands up.

"Yeah, I know. I was only trying to defend myself, it's what I was trained for. But I really do feel bad and I'd like to apologize."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes."

"Grif stand down!" Sarge exclaimed, Grif immediately complied.

"You can't just point a gun at an delicate young lady, she has nothing to defend herself with. I will not allow her to be harmed in any way."

"Yeah, alright. What's your name anyways?" Grif asked as Rose approached them slowly.

"I'm Rose Kent, nice to meet you. I've actually been training to become an agent for, I guess you could call the FBI for now."

"Hold on, so you're from Earth?" Simmons piped up, Rose nodded.

"Then how'd you end up here?"

"Uh, well-" Before she could finish her sentence, Sarge interrupted with a sudden outburst.

"Well Optimus Prime's knuckle, I think we're in business."

They all turned their attention to the now fully functional robot, Rose was a bit surprised. Robots weren't exactly a common thing in the 21st century.

"Ladies, I would like to introduce you to the newest addition to Red Team."

"Can it, talk?" Simmons asked, they all waited in silence until it finally greeted them.

 _"_ _ _Hello."__

Grif and Simmons left out exclamations of frustration and annoyance as Rose just stared at it confused.

"You've got to be kidding!"

"Oh come on!"

"Huh. That is an unfortunate coincidence." Sarge said to himself, Grif began to rant.

"Spanish. Why is it fucking Spanish? Why not French, or German, or Sangheili?"

"I don't get it, why was it defaulted to spanish?" Rose asked, glancing at Sarge.

 _"_ _ _I'm sorry. Does my language choice not please you? My system settings are currently set to Spanish."__

"Heh heh, you know, it almost feels like the good ol' days. Just me, a Spanish-speaking robot, and a couple of complete idiots."

"You're talking about Grif and Donut, right?" Simmons tried to clarify, but it clearly annoyed Grif.

"Thanks dickhead."

"Lopez Dos-Point-O, it's good to have you aboard."

"Dos-Point-O? You mean you had one before this one?" Rose asked turning to Grif.

"Yeah, but he's a long way from here."

 _"_ _ _Thank you, master. It's my duty to-"__

"Now get to work, slacker!"

 _"_ _ _Excuse me?"__ Dos-Point-O said confused.

"Comm tower. Middle of the canyon. Repairo, los rapido."

"It's Spanish Sarge, not Harry Potter." Grif cut in briefly, Dos-Point-O spoke once more.

 _"_ _ _It sounds as if you have some equipment that's in need of repair. Is that correct?"__

"Hm. He's not doing anything."

"Maybe he's stupid."

Rose watched them try to handle the situation only to smiled slightly and took a step towards the robot, Dos-Point-O turned to face her as she began to speak.

 _"_ _ _Hello, it's nice to meet you. I am Rose Kent."__

 _"_ _ _Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Kent. My master does not seem to understand what I am saying, they are not educated in spanish unlike you."__

 _"_ _ _Don't worry, I'll translate for you."__

"Hold on," They turned to face the Reds, "you can speak spanish? Like, not shitty spanish?"

"Yeah, I took Spanish in high school and catch up on my studies when I have time."

"Then can you tell us if Dos-Point-O's retarded or not?"

"He's not, it's just that you aren't responding to him like you're supposed to."

"Great! Tell him that he's gotta go fix the comm tower." Sarge practically ordered, but Rose did as he said.

 _"_ _ _Apparently, Sarge would like you to go and fix the communications tower at the middle of the canyon. I believe that Agent Washington is already there with Private Tucker, trying to repair it."__

 _"_ _ _Of course, I shall do so right away. Please lead the way."__

 _"_ _ _Alright,"__ Rose turned to the Reds, "he says he'll do it. We just gotta lead the way."

"Sweet! Let's go already!"

They all headed off as Rose watched them for a moment, __Even if they are grown men, they still act like lost children.__

"Hey Rose! Hurry up!"

"Coming!"

Meanwhile, Cerri was wandering around the canyon just looking around. Contemplating on the situation at hand.

"How come I can't remember anything from the moment we arrived continuing on, I've watched it so many times that I could quote it. But now, I can't remember a single fucking thing."

 _ _I bet it was that bear kid,__ She thought to herself, she just realized that she had stopped walking and looked down at her feet. Something was covered in dust, she bent down and picked it up to wipe the dirt off.

"Is this, my phone?" She questioned as she stared down at the device, she turned it on and saw the home screen image she had chosen.

"Thank fucking Christ!" She exclaimed happily as she quickly pocketed her phone and continued on her walk.

"Hello?! Who's there!" Someone shouted out, Cerri stopped and turned to face where the noise was coming from. She walked towards it and saw a huge cavern, and inside it was Caboose with a soldering iron.

"Caboose, what are you doing?"

"Oh, hello Ms. Vase! I'm just helping my new best friend!" He exclaimed moving out of the way to show what he was talking about, it was this giant robot that was partly stuck underneath a bunch of crap from the shipwreck.

"That is awesome, but who was your best friend before?"

"Well, it was Church. But he's not here right now, so __he__ is my new best friend until Church comes back! His name is-"

"-Freckles." Cerri finished his sentence for him, Caboose gasped. It partly surprised Cerri as well, she wasn't exactly supposed to remember this.

"Do you two know each other?"

"No."

"Are you psychic?" He asked a bit suspicious, Cerri contemplated it for a moment before shrugging.

"Maybe."

"Really, then what am I thinking right now?"

There was a long pause before Cerri answered, "Is she reading my mind right now?"

"Oh my god! You are psychic!"

"Yeah-Yeah, anyways. Don't you think Freckles will be able to get out of there on his own now?" She asked pointing to the giant droid.

"I don't know…"

"Here, is he online? I'll ask."

"Okay, Freckles! Time to wake up!" Caboose announced, Freckles activated and spoke.

"Mantis Assault Droid online."

"Good, now. Freckles, is it possible for you to rise and lift all of the wreckage off of you?"

"Affirmative."

"Could you please calculate the probability of success?"

"…72% probability of success."

"Alright, it should be fine." Cerri clarified glancing at Caboose.

"Now Freckles, rise!" He commanded.

"Acknowledged, Master."

Freckles slowly started to rise, the wreckage on top of him started to rise and topple over.

"Awesome! I'll go on ahead and check on the others, you can bring Freckles once he's all ready to go."

"Okay!" With that, Cerri jogged off and headed back to the main part of the canyon. It wasn't a long path, and got there right when Simmons started ranting. They were all at the comm tower.

"You can't shove your bitch work on us! What do we look like?"

"Uhhhh... Bitches?" Tucker answered a bit hesitant but still found it amusing.

"Tucker, I want 100 squats." Washington ordered from the comm tower.

"What? But it was leg day yesterday!"

"You are a space marine, private. Everyday is leg day."

After a moment of doubt, Tucker starts doing squats right when Cerri walks in.

"Hey, guys. How are things going?"

"Hey Cerri, and not so good." Rose said as she stepped out of the group of Reds.

"Well, on an unrelated note. I found my phone so I won't die without it."

"I thought that kid took it?" Tucker asked as he continued to do squats.

"Yeah, but I don't know how it ended up here."

"Have you seen Caboose while on your walk?"

"Yeah, he's fine. I'm gonna go up and see if I can help."

Cerri quickly climbed up to the platform of the comm tower and walked up to Washington, his back was facing her as he tried to repair the radio.

"Hello Agent Washington, would you like some help?"

He turned slightly to take a glance at her before facing the radio once more, "No thanks."

"Wow, you do not let up for anyone, do you?"

"No, not to strangers."

"Well, I wouldn't expect much. You were a __soldier__ after all."

He stopped what he was doing and turned around stared at her, Cerri could tell she was only peaking his curiosity.

"And what exactly does that mean?"

"Tucker, you haven't even done a hundred squats."

The two looked over to see Tucker had stopped his squats, "Tucker, squats. Now." Cerri said coolly, Tucker only looked up challenging her.

"What are you my mom? You can't tell me to do jack shit!"

"Hey, Washington?"

"Yes?"

"Could you please hand me your gun?" Washington did so and watched as she positioned the gun at Tucker and prepared to aim.

"Uh, do you know how to use that?"

"No, not at all." Cerri pulled the trigger and was pushed back a bit, the bullet had hit Tucker right in the leg and he helped in pain.

"Ow! Okay-Okay! This is bullshit."

"Ha! Who is the bitch now?" Grif said mockingly.

"Your sister was my bitch if I remember correctly." Tucker retorted.

"Tucker!" Rose exclaimed, but it wasn't acknowledged.

"What did you say to me, bitch?"

"No one is a bitch, now both of you be quiet." Washington said suddenly, earning a moment of silence until Grif added in.

"... Simmons is kind of a bitch."

"Hey! What the fuck?!"

"Ah, can it Private Bitch." Sarge ordered Simmons who sulked but replied.

"Yes, sir."

"Bitch." Tucker and Grif said in unison, Cerri saw that Washington was going to burst.

"I said be quiet!"

He punched the radio in his sudden outburst and the radio suddenly tunes up. Everyone is stunningly silent as we all stare at it.

"Holy shit."

"It's working. I-I don't know what I did but it's working!" Washington exclaimed in surprise, Cerri smirked slightly watched this unusual mood. Dow-Point-O emerged from under the comm tower, earning both Cerri and Rose's attention.

"Comrades! I have repaired the radio tower! Are you pleased with my performance?"

"Lopez, you're ruining the moment." Sarge muttered, Rose only rolled her eyes.

"Wait, Lopez?" Cerri repeated confused.

"Mayday, mayday, this is Agent Washington, can anyone read me? Over."

No response.

"Maybe they're screening our calls." Grif suggested, Simmons immediately asked him.

"What do you mean __'they'__? Who's __'they'__?"

"I dunno, people who know us?"

"What?"

"Look, I wouldn't pick up the phone if any of you fuckers called me."

"Is the signal strong enough on the tower?" Rose asked.

"It should be, but probably not." Cerri replied, she looked back to Washington who still tried to make contact.

"Mayday, mayday, we are survivors of a shipwreck, and are in need of immediate rescue, please respond."

"Don't call them back right away, you gotta wait, or else you'll look desperate." Tucker shouted, Cerri rolled her eyes.

"But we are desperate!" Simmons said.

"Tucker, we aren't trying to sleep with a girl!"

"EVERYONE SHUT UP!" Washington practically screamed, everyone went silent.

"Woah..."

"Mayday, mayday, this is Agent Washington and the red and blue troopers of Project Freelancer! We are stranded, does anyone copy?"

There was still no response.

"Mayday, this is Agent Washington, I am a soldier."

No response again.

"Is anybody out there? Can anybody hear me?!"

There was another moment of silence until the static started up, a voice could faintly be heard on the radio.

"... Hello? Is someone there?"

"Yes! Yes, we're here! Do you read us?"

"...Hello...is this...prank call..."

"No no no no, this is real, please you have to listen to me! My men and I are shipwrecked!"

Everyone started yelling desperately for them to understand.

"It's an emergency!"

"Black Hawk down!"

"Code Red!"

"What? Like a lightish red?"

Everyone paused for a while, taking in what the voice just said.

"The fuck did he just say?" Cerri and Tucker had said at once.

"Cause I mean, red is a pretty broad spectrum. There's scarlet, vermilion, like a deep burgundy."

Sarge came up to the tower and ran to the radio.

"Donut, Is that you?!"

"Sarge? Oh __hey__ guys, what have you all been up to?"

"We're stranded in the middle of the jungle with dwindling food and limited supplies."

"That sucks."

"No shit, dickhead!" Grid yelled in the background, Sarge spoke once more.

"Donut, I need you to listen to me. You need to send help. Call command."

"Command? I think I know a guy if you want to turn this call into a three way."

"I wouldn't do that right this second!" Cerri yelled, Donut heard her and was confused.

"Is there a girl there?"

"Nevermind that, I need you to write down these coordinates."

Washington turned to the Reds, Rose and Tucker, "Who is Donut again?" Then they started to describe him.

"Cheery guy. Pink armor."

"Kind of stupid."

"And a little-"

"Wait, did I shoot him once?" Washington took a guess, Cerri only looked at him with a look of annoyance.

"Bingo."

"Got it."

"Is there anyone you're willing __not__ to shoot?" Washington seemed to ignore Cerri's comment and continued to talk.

"And he's competent enough to trust with our lives?"

They could all hear Sarge and Donut in the background as Sarge gave Donut the coordinates.

"Sorry, did you say 'five' or 'nine'?"

"I said eight."

"Oh."

"The chances of rescue just went down there, Washington." Cerri noted, Washington seemed to agree.

"Right..." He walked back over to Sarge so he could talk to Donut.

"Okay, Donut, those are our last known coordinates but be sure to let the rescue team know that we've got no clue where we actually landed."

"Don't worry guys! No matter how deep the bush, Private Donut always finds his man."

Sarge and Washington both look at each other nervously, Cerri tried to hold back her laughter in the background.

"Roger that son." Sarge said with a sigh, the static picked up once more on the radio.

"What was that? You're breaking up."

"Just send help as fast as you can."

"Okey dokey!"

The radio had lost connection and everyone went quiet, Grif was the first to talk.

"So, what happened?"

"Well boys," Sarge started as he walked over to Cerri's side, "I don't want to jinx us or anything like that but... we're gonna be rescued!"

They all start cheering while Washington comes to Cerri's side as well and looks over from the Comm tower.

"Now guys-" Washington tried to speak but Sarge took charge instead.

"There's no possible way anything can go wrong! Everything is going to be good forever!"

"Guys, it can still be a few days before they-"

"Lets eat all the food rations tonight and then fire all of our excess ammunition indiscriminately into the air and celebrate!"

The group continued cheering and started shooting their guns in the air, Rose covered her ears and took a few steps away.

"Listen, lets not get our hopes up just yet."

"Aw, come on Wash. Lighten up. We did it, we made contact." Tucker pointed out in happy tone.

"Well, it is the first good news that we've had in awhile."

Cerri noticed Caboose running towards them, she immediately ran down and went to his side.

"Hey everyone!"

"Hey, did you get him out?" She asked, he nodded excitedly in response.

"Caboose! Where've you been?" Washington asked a bit worried.

"Yeah, I went on a walk like you said and now, everything is going to be good, forever!" He exclaimed happily.

"Told ya' so!" Sarge shouted.

"Wait, Caboose, you were miserable, what happened?"

"Oh, where are my manners? I haven't even introduced him."

"Introduced who?..." Washington asked hesitantly, Caboose and Cerri turned away from them to face off in the distance.

"FRECKLES! COME!" Caboose called the droid, letting a whistle. Slowly, Freckles made his way over the bridge and towards the group. Everyone stared at Freckles with a sensation of fear, excluding Cerri and Caboose.

Caboose turned to face his friends as Cerri walked over to the killer robot, "EVERYONE, I WOULD LIKE YOU TO MEET FRECKLES! FRECKLES, say hello."

Freckles lifted from its hind legs and aimed his guns at Grif and Simmons.

"Enemy soldiers detected."

"No, those aren't enemies, Freckles. Those are Grif and Simmons... our enemy." Caboose explained happily, but Freckles still takes aim.

"Firing main cannons."

"Freckles," Cerri suddenly said, "stand down." Freckles did as told and crouched back down.

"Yes, Masters."

"Bad Freckles." Caboose said in a quiet voice.

"So, what have you guys been up to?" He asks, it's clear that Grif is the most scared out of all of them.

"Ehh...umm..."


	5. The Confusing Conflict

"I'm pretty sure this isn't a good thing."

"It's not a good thing, it's an interesting thing. And I'm okay with that."

"My god, is there ever a day when you will listen to your conscience?"

"Probably not, until then I'll be doing whatever _I_ wish."

Cerri and Rose entered the lookout where the whole of blue team was, they turned their attention to the two females.

"So, everyone get an explanation from Caboose?" Cerri asked as she stood in front of them, Rose stood by her side and stared up at Freckles.

"Yeah, we got the jist of it." Tucker answered.

"Like I was saying, a pet is a lot of responsibility." Washington pointed out, directing the comment towards Caboose.

"That is why I will water him and I will feed him every day."

"Water and feed? What the hell does this thing run on?!" Tucker asked confused.

"It runs on the power of the friendship of our love!"

"This is so fucked up!" Washington turned to Tucker.

"Didn't you give birth to a baby alien a few years back?"

"Whoa, let's not bring family into this."

"Wait, you had an alien kid?" Cerri asked, Tucker nodded.

"And you gave birth to it?"

"Yeah."

"...How'd that feel exactly?"

"My god, Cerri do not ask that question! I don't wanna hear it!" Rose exclaimed, walking away and going to Caboose's side.

"All I want to know is what we do now?"

"Ha, I'm not doing shit!" Tucker said happily, "We're getting rescued soon, remember?"

"Actually, I think it would be smart if we continued with our training routine." Washington suggested, Tucker obviously had to object.

"What?! Why? There's no point."

"Training is an ongoing process, Tucker, and as the leader of this team, I want to make sure that we're ready for anything."

"This is fucking stupid. Nothing has happened since we crashed here."

"I'm wondering what your definition of ' _Nothing'_ is, Tucker." Cerri said in the background, but they ignored her.

"Well, you never know if someone or _something_ will attack. So stop complaining and start jogging."

Washington started to walk off but was stopped by Tucker again, "And where are you going?"

"I'm heading up to the ship. Someone needs to do an inventory of our food supplies. I prefer it be someone who can count."

"I only screwed up twice." Caboose added.

"You screwed up once."

"Yeah, I don't see your point."

"So you're just gonna leave me with them?" Tucker asked in disbelief, Washington continued to walk off leaving behind an order.

"Five laps gentlemen. Tucker, make sure you count for Caboose."

Once Washington was out of sight and hearing range, Tucker made a snide comment.

"Pff, yeah right."

"Disregarding a direct order from a commanding officer is punishable by death." Freckles stated as he stared down at Tucker.

"What? Since when?"

"Target locked."

"God damn it. Okay I'm going." Tucker runs off while Cerri and Rose watched him.

"Maybe I should join them," Rose said, "I should probably continue with _my_ training too. Who knows what'll happen in the future?"

"Sure, you do that. I'll just go listen to my music and work on the comm tower, I guess."

Cerri turned around and headed back the way they came, hopefully to find some equipment to help. Rose and Caboose were left with Freckles, but Caboose didn't notice Rose's tense form.

"And who wants to go outside?! Who wants to go outside?!" He exclaimed, looking up at Freckles. But he gave no response.

"Who wants to go outside?! Freckles, do you want to go outside?! Outside! Who wants to go outside?! Do I want to go outside? Why do I want to go outside? Let's all go outside!"

"Okay, Caboose. Come on, let's go outside." Rose giggled and grabbed Caboose's hand, leading him outside the base with Freckles following them. Once they stepped out, Caboose let out a blunt statement.

"Oh my god we're here!"

"How about we play a game?"

Caboose turned to Rose with interest, "What kind of game?"

"Whoever finishes their five laps first wins."

"Okay!" Immediately, Caboose ran off and Rose did as well.

"Let's go Freckles!"

"Yes, Master."

"I'm really good at this game!"

Cerri looked out the window to see the trio running across the bridge and towards the now clear cave, she tilted her head to the side with a smirk.

"I ship it."

She headed out of the base and towards the comm tower, no one was there. She climbed up and put on her earphones, putting on a random song and smiled.

"Thank god I had spares in my jacket." She muttered to herself as she started to check out the radio. Suddenly, she felt like she was being watched. Her head snapped up towards the mountains that surrounded the canyon, she couldn't see anyone.

 _Then, why am I not convinced?_ She thought to herself, taking a deep breath she turned back around and tried to distract herself. But she couldn't help it.

It seemed as if time flied by rather quickly, Cerri couldn't get any work done for two reasons: She still couldn't concentrate and she couldn't figure out how to boost the signal.

With a sigh, she got down from the comm tower and decided to check up on her friends. Freckles and Caboose are seen standing next to each other while Rose and Tucker did squats in the background.

"No, Freckles, no, Freckles, go down. Like this!" Freckles and Caboose both squatted down, and Caboose cheered happily.

"Yes, that's a good Freckles! Yes, yes. Tucker, Rosey! Did you see that!? Freckles did a squat!"

"That's great Caboose!" Rose said with a smile, but Cerri could see Tucker staring at her and wasn't really paying attention.

"Great. Now teach him to fetch, and then throw a stick off a cliff." He said as he continued to watch Rose from behind.

"Oh, he knows how to fetch. Freckles! Freckles, get the ball!"

Caboose ordered as he threw a ball out of nowhere, Freckles immediately reacted and aimed for the ball.

"Acquiring target." Shots rang as everyone stopped, Cerri had stopped behind Tucker and stared at Caboose.

"Uhm, see that - that was just - that was just poor phrasing on my part. Really. I mean I was just, I think I was just grammatically... It was grammatically incorrect. So…"

Cerri sighed and then kicked Tucker in the behind, he let out a howl and she smirked.

"Now, Tucker. What have I told you about being a stealthy perv?" She asked as she bent down to look Tucker in the visor, who had fallen to his knees holding his behind.

"And Rose?" She called looking up at her friend, "You might want to protect you behind." It took Rose a second to realize what she meant and glared at Tucker with a beet red face.

"Tucker!" Cerri couldn't help but start laughing, now all of them looked at her.

" _You're_ worse than _him!_ " Rose exclaimed as she covered her face and walked away from the two southerns and closer to Caboose.

"Oh come on, you should've expected this. Be lucky I haven't groping your boobs in public yet."

"Wait, you what?"

"None of your business!" Rose snapped at Tucker, he stood up and turned away from her.

"Jeez, calm the fuck down." He muttered, but he didn't have the courage to say to her face. He then noticed two figures in the bushes, talking.

"Is that Grif and Simmons?" He wondered out loud, Cerri looked in the same direction and nodded.

"I think so, but I can't tell. Don't have very good eyesight."

"Really?"

"Neither does Rose, but she was able to bring her glasses along."

"Whatever, let's check it out. Caboose you stay with Rose."

"Okay!" Caboose replied, both Tucker and Cerri approached the lower ranked Reds who didn't notice their presence yet.

"Hey!" Tucker yelled to get their attention.

"Gah!"

"What are you doing?" They stared at the two individuals in shock but Simmons was the first to talk, but he was a bit jittery.

"Alright! Listen, Tucker! I'm willing to hear you out, but my partner is crazy! I can't hold him back!"

"What?"

"I mean, hey, what's up? How's the weather? No, wait, I mean, tell me what you know!" He cocked his gun and pointed it at the two who stared blankly, not sure how to react. But then Simmons lowered his gun in shame.

"I'm sorry…"

"That's some solid detective work there, Officer Simmons." Grif commented sarcastically, Cerri only rolled her eyes.

"Yeahhh, so if you guys could not watch us work out, that'd be great." Tucker suggested as Cerri said bluntly,

"It's weird." And Grif seemed to agree.

"It's really weird!"

"Sarge ordered us to come spy on you. He thinks you're up to something!" Simmons explained, still finding the suggestion of that incredibly far-fetched.

"What could they possibly do? You do realize that Wash is too busy babying Caboose, and Caboose is too busy being babied." Cerri pointed out, gesturing towards said Soldier.

"Plus, the only thing _I've_ done today is exercise."

"You poor tortured soul." Grif pitied Tucker with a sigh, but Simmons only became curious.

"What are you training for?"

"Fuck if I know! Every day it's the same thing. Wake up, run drills, clean the base, run drills, maintain order, run drills. I have glamorous calves and a miserable fucking life! Can we please stop running drills!?"

"I had calves once... Way more tender than a regular cow. You can _taste_ the youth." Grif had gotten off track of the actual conversation, which made Cerri eye him with obscurity while Simmons and Tucker continued to talk.

"Wash makes you clean the base?"

"And our equipment, and our vehicles. The guy's obsessed with rules and order!"

"Ew, could you imagine having to deal with someone like that?" Grif said in disgust.

"Guys, that's basically what he does. He follows the rules he's used most of his life."

"Rules and order…" Simmons seemed too preoccupied with his daydreams of perfection, and Cerri started to get a bit concerned.

"I know, right? He's even got an ' _organizational chart'_."

"Ahhh."

"Pssh, what a loser."

"Uhh... Yeah hmmm, well uh, that all sounds very interesting Tucker. But, I think I need to see this for myself."

"What?"

"What?"

"Oh, hell no!" Cerri exclaimed in protest, crossing her arms.

"I just want to make sure the story checks out. Inspect the base and stick around for a few days."

"Checks out? What are you going to find inside that we can't already see? The thing is completely exposed! It's empty! It's clean, dude!"

"Ahh, clean…" Simmons was in his fantasies way too deep, and Cerri was not liking it one bit. The boys on the other hand were absolutely clueless.

"Are you sure you want to hang around? Wash might make you run his obstacle course or something."

"Yeah, Sarge made us do that too. Sometimes when I sneeze, buckshot comes out." Grif reminisced the time he got shot in the back, Cerri only rolled her eyes once more in annoyance.

"Look, just let me hang out for a few days! I'll be cool. I swear!" Simmons said, practically begging.

"Don't lie to the man's face."

"Whatever, dude. Just remember, I warned you." Tucker walked off and Cerri quickly jogged ahead of him and passed the others.

"Cerri, where are you going?" Tucker asked, she stopped and turned to look at him.

"I'm gonna make sure that my room is Simmons Proof, like hell he's going into there to _bleach_ everything!" She disappeared into the base and they all exchanged looks.

"I'm sure she'll be fine." Rose said, Caboose nodded and practically pulled another ball out of nowhere.

"Alright, Freckles... Fetch!"

Caboose threw the ball, and they stared after it to see it landed near Simmons.

"Hey, Caboose! You dropped your ball!" He yelled, and Freckles reacted immediately.

"Acquiring target."

Rose covered her ear when the sound of gunfire and explosions, and Simmons shrieked.

"Ahhh! What did I do?"

"You okay, Simmons?!"

"Uh, yeah, sorry, yeah, we're still working on that one! ...Can we have our ball back?"

"I can't. Sarge says I throw like a girl."

Rose ran over to Simmons who was shaking in his armour, and picked up the ball. She patted Simmons on the shoulder with a look of concern.

"You alright?" He nodded his head and started to shuffle away.

"I'm just...gonna...go into the base."

"Okay." She walked back to Caboose and passed him the ball.

"I think I'm gonna go and make sure everyone's okay."

"Okay." Caboose seemed a bit disappointed by that.

"I'll send Tucker out to play, how about that?" He nodded again which made Rose sad, but she headed inside the base anyways. When she stepped inside, she saw that Simmons was looking around the base with nothing to do.

"Uh, hey Simmons." She greeted startling him a bit, he spun around to face her and sighed in relief.

"Oh, hi Rose. How are you?"

"I'm fine. But I'm more interested as to why you're here of all places instead of at Sarge's side."

"Oh, well, I just wanted to make sure you guys aren't up to anything! You know, regular soldier, um, inspection stuff!" Rose could hear he was lying and nervous at the same time, she smiled lightly and placed a hand on his shoulder to which she stiffened a bit.

"Come on, Simmons. You can tell me. I kind of am on Red team anyways, I'm wearing a pink shirt."

"O-Okay," He took a deep breath and started his rant, "well, a day or two ago. Sarge split up the base and I have to share one half with Grif -who is a slob- and now I have to handle his disgusting tendencies and on top of it handle Sarge. He never listens to what I have to say, and we could get things done way faster if they'd just listen! So, when I heard that Blue base was clean, spotless, strict and orderly, I decided to stay here. I thought I might be able to fit in!"

There was this awkward silence that rang throughout the area, Rose stared at Simmons taking in the information while Simmons stood there close to having an emotional break down.

"Well…then why don't you, uh, try to keep Blue base at its peak!" She suggested, trying to keep her optimistic attitude. But Simmons looked at her confused.

"What do you mean?"

"You know, schedule training sessions. Keep an assignment list for...I don't know, chores?"

"Really? I can do that?"

"I'm sure that Washington won't mind, he might need the extra help actually."

"Thank you Rose!" He ran off further into the base, leaving Rose alone.

"Glad I could help!"

Tucker walked past Simmons and stopped to ask Rose, "What happened?" He asked her.

"I think I just gave Simmons a new purpose in life."

"Oh great…" He walked past her and out of the base, but Rose shouted one last thing to him.

"By the way, Caboose wanted you to play with him and Freckles!"

"I don't play with dudes, but I'll definitely with you Baby! Bow Chicka Bow Wow!"

Her cheeks burned as she pushed Tucker's innuendo out of her head and went onward. Rose opened the door to her room to see Cerri trying to use her bed to barricade the door. They stared at one another for what seemed like an hour, but in reality it was only seconds.

"What are you doing?" She asked, her voice in a monotone.

"I'm trying to make the room Simmons proof…"

She walked into the room and saw that the floor had blankets covering it, Rose sighed and went to pick them up.

"Why are you using my bed and not your own?"

"Cuz I need to sleep later on." The screeching of the bed's frame against the floor hurt Rose's ear.

"What about me?"

"Then, sleep with Caboose."

At this suggestion, Rose's whole face became beet red for the second time that day. She covered her face with the blankets she was picking up and Cerri laughed once more at her embarrassment.

"How could you even say that! It's like high school again!" Her voice was muffled through the blankets, her mind swimming in a sea of romantic scenarios between herself and the blue soldier.

"You're thinking about it for sure." Rose was about to yell at Cerri but was cut of by a sudden outburst outside that made both girls jump.

"Tucker!"

Rose walked over to the window across the room to see Tucker and Washington had started to argue while Caboose and Freckles watched in the background.

"Washington and Tucker are having an argument." She took note of her observation, Cerri paused for a moment and then cursed out loud.

"Oh God dammit!" She pushed the bed that barricaded the door out of the way with ease, and rushed out the door and to the boys. Rose followed unsure of what was going to happen, but she assumed that Cerri remembered.

"What's going on?" She asked her tall friend, Cerri let out a sigh and untied her jacket to put it on.

"A Yaoi lovers' quarrel."

"What?"

"God, if only you became an Otaku like me."

They stepped out of the base to witness the argument.

"Why do you refuse to take these things seriously?"

"Why can't you just let us do our thing?"

"I'm trying to make sure you're the best. That you're ready for anything."

"Why? Blue Team was just fine with being mediocre until you came along. What the fuck are you worried about?"

"It's just a feeling I-can't explain it."

"Really? Cuz I bet I can. You're a paranoid, ex-special ops guy who's used to being betrayed on a weekly basis. Not much of a riddle Wash. Hey, next do you want to figure out the mystery of why Caboose isn't the team treasurer?"

Cerri interrupted the verbal battle, knowing that Tucker would spare no expense.

"Okay, Tucker chill. Let's not go there."

"Oh-hoho bitch I already went there, and I took pictures." He countered and made Cerri stare at him with wide eyes, and Tucker immediately regretted.

"Ooooh girrrrl."

"You better hope that I make your death painless, _Lavernius_."

"Wait, I never told you my name!" He exclaimed, freezing Cerri who didn't know how to respond. But luckily, Washington ignored that fact and continued to rant.

"Well I can't say I'm surprised. You just always have to get the last laugh, mister _quick-witted_ , mister _sarcastic_. If you spent as much time training as you do mouthing off, you could probably beat Freckles at arm wrestling."

"Don't be stupid! Freckles doesn't have arms, he has guns."

"And, paws! Freckles shake!" Caboose ordered the robot, Freckles lifted up one foot and took a step forward, shaking the ground.

"Get it?! He shakes! It's awesome!"

"Caboose!" All three yell at him in anger.

"Yeah, yeah we're still working on it."

Simmons appeared, and immediately went to talk to Washington, "Oh, hey Wash, I didn't know you were back."

"What is... why is he here?" Washington asked the two Africans who glared at one another, Rose spoke up to answer instead.

"We let him in, he wanted to just hang out for a...while."

"I took the liberty of claiming the bunk closest to you. I hope you don't mind." Simmons said in a cheery tone, but Washington immediately shot him down.

"I don't have time to deal with you right now, go away."

"Eh heh, good one Sir. Oh hey by the way, is it cool if I start calling you Sir?"

"Why is he still here?"

"Beats me. If I was him, I'd be as far away from this base as possible."

"You can call me Champ if you want. Or you know... son."

"Just ignore him."

"Or Sir Junior."

"Simmons," Cerri snapped at him, "get the hell back inside the base!"

"Why are you always barking orders! You aren't supposed to be here!" Tucker snapped back at her, they started to get into each others personal space.

"Says the guy who needs Wash to protect him and his team!"

"We don't need him protecting us."

"That's why I'm trying to help you!" Washington exclaimed in frustration, Tucker turned to him and yelled.

"Help us with what, defending against attack? No one is going to attack us!"

"Attack!" A familiar gruff voice came out of nowhere. Suddenly, Grif and Sarge appeared over the hill in the Warthog and drove directly into a boulder.

"Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me."

"Dammit Grif, you forgot our theme music." Sarge scolded the orange soldier who sat in the driver's seat.

"Oh, right."

He turns on the radio and the polka music played, but it didn't please Sarge at all, "Ah forget it, moment's passed." Freckles reacted to their presence and rose from his hind legs.

"Enemy soldiers detected."

"Uh... good Freckles... No murdering everyone." Caboose said, trying to make Freckles to stand down.

And there everyone stood, standing off against each other like the beginning. Tensions were high and no one was in a good mood, with exception of Caboose. Cerri stood with no weapons or armour in case fighting truly did break out, and Rose made her way towards Caboose and Freckles for protection. Grif felt the need to announce his innocence as well.

"Uh, I would just like to take this opportunity to point out, that this, was not my idea. Whatsoever, at all."

"You have literally the worst timing." Tucker spat, to which Cerri agreed to.

"Stow it, thin mint. We're no longer fraternizing with the enemy." Sarge threw back, which stopped Tucker in his armour.

"' _Thin mint'_?" Grif corrected Sarge once more, to avoid any blame whatsoever.

"Now see, when he says ' _we'_ imagine he's only referring to himself. Do not group us together."

"Bitch, my armor's aqua! I think."

"Tucker, it _is_ aqua!" Cerri exclaimed being incredibly pissy, Washington ignored them and got onto more important matters.

"What the hell are you two doing?"

"Uh, again, not ' _two'_ , just him. I can't stress this enough."

"You made me believe that Reds and Blues can coexist, and we can work together as one people, and that we can all get together and be...a little...purple."

"We can! We are! Seriously, what the fuck is this about?"

"You kidnapped one of my men!"

Everyone's attention went to Simmons who stood there awkwardly, until he realized he was the centre of attention.

"Who? Me?"

"He wasn't fucking kidnapped! He doesn't wanna leave!" Cerri exclaimed angrily, and then snapped at Simmons, "And I thought I told you to get inside the base!"

"Is this true, Simmons?" Sarge asked, and Simmons didn't hide it.

"It's not your fault, sir. It's Grif's."

"What did I do?" Grif asked confused.

"You're fucking disgusting, Grif!" Grif only sat there, not really affected by Simmons' insult. He was aware of his lifestyle, and didn't really take the comment to heart.

"Well, yeah. But I've always been like that. Sarge was the one that decided to take half the base for himself."

"Oh. Then I guess it is your fault, sir." Simmons turned to Sarge, clarifying the reason for his leave.

"Then that makes you a traitor!"

"What?"

"Threat level increased."

"Uh, yeah, no reason for panic. Everything's fine. Might anyone have a rolled up newspaper at the ready?" Caboose said as Rose started to step away from the man and the robot. Cerri turned to Freckles and glared.

"Freckles, stand down. This is an order."

"Command denied."

"What?!"

"Civilians: Cerri Vane and Rose Kent are not recognized as soldiers in the UNSC database, therefore have no authority."

"What the fuck!" She shrieked angrily, Washington tried to calm her down.

"Cerri, you need to calm down."

"Well sorry, but this whole thing is like a kick in the ass! All because of that maroon moron who decided to stay here!"

"He wasn't kidnapped, then that would mean we were never the enemy in the first place!" Tucker said to Sarge who wasn't convinced one bit.

"Don't try to confuse me with your words, shamrock!"

"I'm aqua!" Tucker exclaimed in frustration.

"Tucker, calm down." Washington said, his tone becoming a bit more strict.

"Me? These guys roll up in a fucking assault jeep and you choose to yell at me?"

"Look, tensions are high-"

"No shit, Washington. I'm tired of you bossing us around."

"Now is not the time."

"You know, I disagree. We were having a talk when Tweedledee and Tweedle-fucking-idiot decided to interrupt, so let's finish this."

"There is nothing to finish!"

"Are we intruding on some sort of lovers' quarrel right now?" Grif had asked out loud, feeling really uncomfortable watching the two blue soldiers fight.

"You are the worst thing to happen to this team since blue-boy over there decided to show up."

"I am a man! Blue man!" Caboose announced with pride, Rose grabbed his arm and placed a finger on her lips.

"Caboose, now is not the time to talk."

"You take that back. Wash is a great leader. I assume."

"Simmons! Shut the fuck up! You're only making things worse!" Cerri barked at the man who tried to defend Washington.

"Blasphemy!" Sarge exclaimed pointing the large gun at them. Freckles loaded up his guns which made Rose cover her ears, preparing for the ringing noise.

"Deadly force authorized."

"Seriously, I would rather follow _Caboose_ into battle than you."

"Oh, really? Then let's just make him the leader, see how much better off you are!"

"Well, I humbly accept your nomination and accept the position." Caboose said in a calm tone, to which Tucker and Washington turned their attention to yelled.

"Shut up!"

"Do not talk back to your commanding officer." Freckles said now ignoring the Reds and looked down at the arguing duo. Tucker, in that moment, forgot who he was talking to and became incredibly sassy.

"Wash and I are having an argument. I will be talking back to him. That's how arguments work, you _fucking toaster_."

"Washington is not the commanding officer."

"What?" Tucker stopped and a dark feeling overcame everyone.

"What?"

"In a unanimous decision by the Blue Team, Caboose has been promoted to Blue leader. Captain Caboose is now your commanding officer. Do not talk back to your commanding officer."

"Oh, fuck."

"Well, yep. This is gonna be a lot of fun." Caboose commented, it was like you could hear him smiling.

"No, Caboose, you can't-" Washington tried to object, but was a bit fearful of Freckles, "Look, Freckles, this is a misunderstanding!"

"Caboose is team leader? Fuck this." Simmons tried to leave but Caboose's decisions would stop that.

"Augh, don't worry, Simmons. As my first duty as leader in the position of the nomination, I say you can be on Blue Team...forever!"

Simmons kept walking away from the Blues, "No thanks, I'm good."

"Private Simmons." Freckles said, stopping Simmons from walking any further.

"Oh no."

"Deserting your post will designate you as AWOL. This designation is punishable by death."

" _WHAT?_ "

"Uh, hey Sarge? Now the Blues have kidnapped Simmons." Grif said to his commanding officer.

"THEN IT'S WAR!"

"Wait! Stop!"

Sarge activated the cannon on the Warthog, and aimed it at Freckles.

"Say hello to robot Satan, you mechanical son of a bi-"

"Bail!" Grid yelled, throwing himself out of the Warthog just as Freckles shot it, sending both Grif and Sarge flying out of the blown up vehicle.

"Woah!" Simmons ran to Sarge's side to check if he was injured, in the background Cerri stood there watching, not one bit worried for their safety.

"Sarge!"

"Freckles! Bad! Bad! No!" Caboose scolded the large metal object, who got down on its hind legs once more.

"Primary threat eliminated."

Dos-Point-O ran into the area, wanting to see what the cause of explosion was.

" _What was the explos—HOLY SHIT. WHAT DID YOU DO?_ "

"Sarge! Are you okay?" With a grunt of pain, Sarge got up off the ground.

"No, Simmons. I'm afraid I won't be okay...until I exact my revenge!" He rose his weapon towards Freckles once again, Grif was in the distance defending his innocence once more.

"Seriously, I am not affiliated with this lunatic. He does not speak for me."

Sarge charged at Freckles with a battle cry, to which Freckles reacted.

"Engaging target."

"Freckles, no!"

"Sarge, don't!"

Suddenly, a single gunshot stopped the whole ordeal. Both teams slowly turn toward the source of the sound, and there stood their last hope. Donut.

"Man, you guys are really noisy."

There was a pause before both teams, minus Caboose, ran toward Donut in great muffled cheers.

"Aww! You must have really missed me!"

"Donut, thank _God_ you're here!" Grid said happily, Sarge's mood had changed as well.

"We were just about ready to kill each other."

"Speak for yourself." Said Tucker, going back to his usual attitude. Washington ignored them and got to the obvious and most important matter.

"Where's the ship?"

"What ship?" Donut asked confused.

"The ship you came here on. The rescue team."

"Ohhhh. Hah-hah, _duh_! Allow me to introduce: the rescue team!"

Donut gestured to the right of him to show Doc standing a little ways off, he gave a calm greeting that confused everyone.

"'Sup."

"Doc?"

"Wait. What is this?" Washington asked.

"Donut told me you guys needed help." Doc tried to explain, and so did Donut.

"So I got the best help money could buy!"

"You didn't pay me."

"And I didn't tip the pilot! That's formality."

"What pilot?" Sarge asked, the confusion and tension growing by the second.

"The pilot that dropped us off, dummy."

"' _Dropped you off'_?"

"As in, he's not here anymore?" Grid tried to clarify, hoping that Donut would say the opposite of what seemed to be reality.

"Exactly."

Caboose ran over to join the group and noticed Doc, "'Sup?"

"So you're telling me...that you heard our distress signal...grabbed Doc...hopped on a ship...and then _TOLD THE SHIP TO LEAVE? AND THAT'S YOUR IDEA OF SENDING HELP?!_ "

"What? No! I brought Lopez, too!" Donut said gesturing to the disembodied head on the ground, Dos-Point-O stood next to Lopez who didn't exactly know to react.

" _What. The fuck._ "

"Kill him!"

The Reds and Blues converged on Doc and Donut and dragged them behind a rock, the sounds of punching and beating started up while Cerri and Rose watched in the distance with Freckles.

"Someone get this maniac turquoise guy away from me!"

"I'M AQUA!"

Rose held a deep worry for the two new additions to the canyon that were getting a beating, and looked beside her to see Cerri with her usual expression vacant of any emotion.

"Um, Cerri, shouldn't we help them?" The tall African only turned around made her way into the base.

"No, let him die the most agonizing death possible."


	6. It's Called A Filler Episode

Tucker, Wash and Simmons stood in the main briefing room, being forced to wait for Caboose that was busy doing god knows what. Simmons was internally crying while the others paid no mind to it. Even though there was a dead silence within the room, Tucker felt the need to comment.

"This is it. This is rock bottom. You ever hit rock bottom before Wash? Well, you have now. Cuz this is it. Can't get any lower."

"I wanna go home." Simmons let out with a whine, a tiny audible sniff as well.

"Okay well maybe I spoke too soon."

"You guys are such sad fucks." The three soldiers turned their attention to two unknown soldiers in Mark VI armour that approached them casually. One wore pure white and one pitch black, they all seemed to stare at the black one.

"Agent...Texas?" Washington addressed them confused, they placed their hands on their helmet and took it off to show their face.

"Cerri?" Tucker said surprised, she smirked and balanced her helmet on her hip. The white soldier took off their helmet as well and it appeared to be Rose.

"Rose? When did you guys get armour?"

"Apparently, Donut brought some armour for us."

"He may have modified them though, they look and feel a lot more...I guess I could say, form fitting and slim."

"Yeah, I can tell. Your curves show more."

"Hey Tucker, now that I have armour! I'll give it my all to try and tear your limbs off!" Cerri replied with a sarcastically cheery tone, it sent chills down the Aqua soldiers spine. When Freckles voice gained everyone's attention, Tucker thought himself to be lucky that another second wasn't spared for Cerri's death threat to become a reality.

"Attention. Officer on deck."

Caboose entered in his usual manor, not really taking his new position seriously by the looks of it.

"Yes. Yes. Hello, thank you yes, hello. Thank you, you're welcome, yes thank you. Hello!"

"Captain, all team members are accounted for." Freckles informed the CO, looking down at him.

"Well, excellent news, Assistant Captain Freckles."

"Oh my lord." Tucker said under his breath, and so did Cerri.

"It looks like we have a new member today. Yes, give Simmons a big Blue Team hello. Yes, welcome to Blue Team, Simmons."

Caboose was the only one that seemed to clap everyone stared at Simmons who let out a whimper, "Can I leave?"

"It is good to have you on board today for the Blue Team." Caboose ignored Simmons sadness and Freckles continued with his tutorial-like information.

"Sir. Awaiting mission briefing."

"Oh, yes, right, oh God, right yes. Um okay uh... Yes. First order of business is t-um... uh..." Caboose didn't know a thing about anything that was going on, so he asked the man who would, "Wash. Psst, Wa- Wash. Washington, Washing- Washington, Wash. Wash, Wash, Wash-"

With a sigh, Washington answered, "Yes, Caboose?"

"What is the first order of business?"

"We're trying to get rescued." He answered, feeling kind of ridiculous at the moment.

"Oh, yes, rescued! Yes excellent. Does anyone have any, suggestions?"

Tucker and Washington look at each other before Washington answered once more.

"Uh, well, we know the communications tower works, so we should continue in our efforts to make contact."

"Ah, yes. Very good, excellent yes."

"However, we should also work on trying to boost the signal of the radio transmitter. We were barely able to maintain a steady line of communication last time. Even if we make contact again there's no guarantee anyone would be able to understand us."

"Ah! Yes, uh- right, yes. Yes, then we need to do that! Tucker! Go fix the radio thing!" Cerri face palmed at the command, and Tucker started to object.

"Me? Why not Wash? He's the one who built it."

"Tucker, becau- don't rook it, alright listen. We're gonna keep Wash here for another job." Caboose said, trying to keep his 'professional' demeanour. But in truth, it was never there. In turn, it was Washington's turn to object.

"But, I- Caboose." But it didn't go his way, because for some reason Freckles didn't exactly like him exclusively. Wash let out a growl in an attempt at holding back his frustration.

"Yeah, I'm thinking that you know, uh, Washington is mean and scary. Yes, yes, he will be our lookout!"

"Lookout?" Rose repeated confused

"Yes. Washington, make sure you look out, for bad guys! And, anything, that looks scary."

"There's a giant robot trying to kill me." Washington stated blankly, something everyone but Caboose could see.

"Yeah, why can't Freckles be our lookout? Killing stuff is like, his entire reason for existing." Tucker tried to reason with his oblivious friend.

"Well um, every great leader needs a great best friend, and Freckles, I think you could be that best friend." Caboose looked up at Freckles, a nervous tone clear in his voice. Cerri only found this whole relationship more fucked up by the day. Considering that, have they even slept yet? Has a day even passed? Questions for later.

"...Acknowledged."

"Uhm, do I need to do anything?" Simmons asked awkwardly, Caboose gasped and started yelling.

"Oh my God a Red, oh my- oh no sorry, sorry it's my bad. Sorry, sorry. Yeah Simmons, yes Simmons we got- we have to talk about it. Yes, um, Simmons... you do what you, ah, normally do for the Reds. But instead... for the Blues."

"Uh, yes Sir." The maroon soldier replied, Tucker turned to Simmons.

"Wait, what is your job for the Reds?"

"What do you mean, I just did it."

Cerri rose her hand as if trying to ask a teacher questions, Caboose acknowledged this.

"Yes, Cerri?"

"Well, according to Freckles. Rose and I aren't on blue team, so can we join?"

"Yes, absolutely!"

"Sweet, also, could I be Co-Assistant Captain?"

"Uh, but Freckles is assistant Captain."

"Yes, _A_ _ssistant_ _Captain_. Not _Co_ -Assistant Captain, every word counts Caboose."

"Okay then, Cerri is now promoted to Co-Assistant Captain!"

"Sweet! I worked my way up the chain, and I didn't have to sleep with anyone!" Cerri exclaimed happily, Rose, Simmons and the two low rank blue soldiers stared at her in disbelief.

"Okay everybody! Aaaaand Team! Alright see you, bye."

Caboose walked off back into the base, and the rest just stood there in shock with the exception of Cerri.

"You planned that, didn't you?" Washington asked the black-armoured soldier, she only smirked.

"Nope," She replied popping the _'P'_ , "I figured that if I wanted to live through this along with everyone else, I had to find a way to get Freckles to follow my orders again. Since we're basically dealing with a child in charge, I just asked him straight forward. I still wanted to be the closest to Captain so I just added a word, and it worked out well. Now, I'm on the same level of authority as Freckles. And be happy, you just got two new soldiers."

After her explanation, Cerri took Rose by the arm and started to drag her inside.

"Wait, where are you going?" Tucker asked.

"We need to have a girl talk."

The two disappeared into the base as the others stared after them, Washington started to walk off, "I hope you're happy."

"Hey, don't pin this shit on me."

"I'll just, stay here I guess." Simmons said standing there alone, not sure what to do.

Cerri and Rose entered their now clean room, and locked the door behind them.

"Okay, what's this _girl talk_ we need to have?" Rose asked as she sat down on her bed, Cerri placed her helmet on her bed and sat down as well.

"We need to talk about or current situation."

"Yeah, I've been trying to ignore that fact that we're light years away from planet Earth, and it's not even the one we were born on."

"I get it, but that's the least of it."

"What's the most?"

"The fact that we don't even know how we actually got here, and who brought us here. Also the matter of, even if we find all this out, how do we get back home?"

"At this point, I don't know if I'd rather stay here or go back home."

"I don't care if either way, but if I had to choose: I'd stay here."

Rose gave Cerri a confused look, "Why?"

"Rose, all my life I've wanted nothing more than to leave my boredom behind and find something endlessly exciting. And here we are, another _universe_! Out of all the people in the whole world, we get chosen to come here. I don't care if it was a fluke or not at the moment, all I care about is staying here."

Rose stared at Cerri in surprise, this was the first that she had ever heard of this. She knew that Cerri was a day dreamer, and most definitely a head-in-the-clouds kind of person. But this was new, and her opinion on the situation as well.

"But, what about our life, back in New York? The one we had planned since 9th grade? What about our friends?"

"I don't know, it could be possible that we've been filed as missing. Or just plain forgotten by everyone we ever interacted with."

"No," Rose stood up from her bed with a look of anger, "I refuse to believe that our friends and family have forgotten we even _exist_!"

"Rose, calm down. It's only a theor-"

"Stop it! Cerri, we're talking about my _family_! Forgetting about me! My parents, my brother and sisters! On top of it, I may never _see_ them again! Doesn't it bother you that you won't ever be able to see _yours_ again?!"

There was long pause of silence as Cerri stood up and towered over Rose, not purposely trying to intimidate her but it seemed that way to Rose.

"No…it doesn't bother me. In truth, the thought crossed my mind about disappearing from the world and everyone forgetting about me. But it doesn't really bother me."

Cerri walked out of the room without another room, not wanting to continue this conversation. Rose just stood there staring at the spot that Cerri stood, she was having a hard time processing what her friend had just said. This was the first she had ever heard anything like this from her. And it made her think, what else did Rose not know about Cerri? The same went for herself.


	7. Pairings Galore

Rose needed some time to calm down and find out what to do next, she refused to talk to Cerri after what she had said. So she hoped to find the others. She walked into the main briefing room to find Washington, Simmons and Tucker standing in front of a computer terminal.

"Revolutionary? The first social media sites that were created hundreds of years ago."

"And there are no friends in this canyon. Only forced acquaintances."

"What are you guys doing?" Rose asked, they all turned to her except for Simmons who was concentrated on his _original invention._

"Simmons made a knock off of Facebook." Tucker answered gesturing the maroon soldier who is slowly losing his sanity.

"Yeah, but those old sites just turned into agglomerations of attention whores. Nothing but teenagers who wanted to prove they were cool and old people who wanted to prove they were still relevant." Simmons explained while he signed into Basebook and worked on his profile a bit, Rose looked over his shoulder to see. But had to ask the obvious question.

"So what's the point of Basebook?"

"Oh, ya'know. Just wanna keep in touch with my friends on the Red team while I'm your prisoner." Rose stepped back while Simmons broke out into stressed laughs and cries, "Can't let them forget about Ol' Simmons! Ha ha he, huh ha ha he."

"Well... I'm glad you spent your time in captivity on something meaningful." Wash said bluntly, though the sarcasm was something clear. It made Rose frown a bit, but Tucker ignored it.

"So you made it. What now?"

"Well, let's see what Sarge is up to."

Simmons got off his own profile to see that literally no one else with exception of Donut and Caboose had made a profile, "Uh huh. Hmm. Hasn't set up his profile yet... That's cool. Umm I'll just wait for an update. He has to have an I'm sure It'll come eventually. Huh Updates. He he ha, he he..."

"Ya'know... Maybe you should go outside for a bit, Simmons. I'm sure Caboose wouldn't mind if you got some fresh air." Washington tried to subtly suggest, but really in subtext he was saying 'Simmons, you crazy son of a bitch, take a chill pill and a breather'. But he couldn't say that to his face right now.

"No no. It's cool. I'll just save Sarge some time and...make a profile for him! Yeah. That'll be fun. And I'll do a post about it. Just so he knows..."

"...Hope you like the new Blue team, Wash. Really worked your magic." Tucker walked away leaving Rose and Wash to handle the cluster of emotion unraveling in their face at the moment.

"A-Are you sure Simmons? You look like you really need it." Rose tried to help Wash's attempts at getting Simmons to relax, but it didn't seem to have any effect.

"Ugh, Okay!" The sound of Caboose caught the attention of the two blues, they went to look outside to see Freckles posing in a sombrero. Caboose seemed to be looking for the best angle for a picture. Rose noticed Cerri walking away to the farther parts of the canyon, she ignored her and returned her attention to Caboose. But it didn't help that she was clenching her fists in frustration.

"'Kay! Okay! Don't move! I gotta get my camera! Oh my god this is gonna be so cute!"

Caboose ran off leaving Freckles there, "Holding position." With a sigh Rose shifted to look at Washington.

"I'll look after Caboose again, alright? You look you need some time to clear your mind, so do I."

"Where's Cerri? Did something happen with the both of you?" Wash asked, seeing that Rose was visibly not in a good mood for the second time during her stay here. Her movement was a bit more tense than usual, like she was holding something in.

"Nothing, she just…needs some time alone to recharge. It happens at times."

"I understand, but I just need you to know that if anything happens that, I need you to look after Caboose. He trusts you, I can tell he does."

"O-Okay, thank you. But you should take a walk or something, head up farther away from the canyon. Check on Cerri for me?"

"I'll be fine, but I'll check on Cerri. Just make sure that Caboose doesn't do anything...dangerous." Washington walked away as he muttered the last bit of his words before trudging out of the base, Rose let out a sigh of grief but then looked to the side to see Caboose running inside with a...camera?

"Rosey! Rosey! Do you want to play with me and Freckles?!" He took his subordinate's hand while jumping up and down in excitement, this made Rose blush and look down at her armoured feet.

"Yeah, sure. I'm just a bit worried that Freckles'll try and make fireworks out of me."

"That's okay, I'm sure you're still pretty even as fireworks."

Rose seemed to ignore everything Caboose had said except for the fact that he thought she was pretty, it rang through her mind making her cheeks heat up. She couldn't help but avert her eyes as if it were a reflex, it wasn't exactly something she was used to.

"Thanks, but Freckles is waiting. We should go."

Without warning, Caboose pulled her along with him. In no time at all they stood in front of the metal giant that remained in its position, but the snow white soldier couldn't help but hold stiff movement as she approached Freckles. But the warmth of Caboose's hand seemed to calm her down.

"What do you think?!" Caboose asked in his usual excited tone, Rose spotted the sombrero of Freckles head and it brought a giggles to bubble out of her throat.

"You think it looks silly, don't you?"

"Of course I do, you don't see a military robot in a sombrero everyday. It's silly, but that's what makes it cute."

"Silly is cute?" Rose nodded at the childish soldier, what she had said processed through her mind until he said, "Am I silly?"

"Definitely."

"So that means that I'm cute!"

"Yep!" Her whole body froze as she only began to process what she had said to Caboose, her cheeks flushed once more. But it became worse when Caboose pulled her into a hug, but she couldn't help but hesitantly return his affection. But she did find it comforting.

"Why the hell do I even bother? Trying to explain something like that to her, I should've kept it to myself!"

Cerri stomped around the vacant land, talking to herself in confidence. Or so she thought.

"Of course, I'm the crazy one for wanting an exciting life! Just because I was born there and grew up there, doesn't mean I have to fucking miss it!" She kicked a close by boulder and it immediately broke in half, she stumbled back for a moment before turning away and silently spoke in her head.

 _I must be going insane at this point, this whole alternate universe thing is actually taking its toll on me._

"Miss Vane," Her mind relaxed and faced the voice to see Agent Washington standing there, "I heard from Rose that you two had an argument, I came to check if you were alright."

Cerri stared at him confused and placed her hands on her hips, it wasn't the fact of him checking up on her but how he addressed her.

"I'm fine. But, where did that come from?" She walked past him, heading back to base and Wash started to walk beside her.

"I'm just concerned, with you starting at a high position and all."

"Thanks for your concern, but I could care less about my position."

~

Tucker was at the comm tower, trying to get it to work when he stopped and immediately said out loud, "Bow Chicka Bow Wow…huh, that was weird."

~

"Besides, that wasn't what I talking about."

"What is it?"

" _Miss Vane?_ What am I? A school teacher? What happened to the _first name basis_ crap?"

"Well, you are my superior now. And I don't usually call my superiors by their first name, not unless we're really close." Wash replied trying to explain himself, this explanation made a mischievous smirk appear on Cerri's lips and she grabbed Wash's arm to pull him closer.

"Well, now you're gonna have to call me by my first name _David._ "

"N-No, that's not what I meant. Um, how do you even know…"

"Wow, you can't handle being around women, huh?" The smirk on her lips hadn't left for a second, letting a laugh escape that made Agent Washington more flustered.

"No, it's not that. This is just, um, unprofessional?"

Cerri removed her arm and went further ahead, he didn't catch her rolling her eyes, "What isn't unprofessional these days? You're a highly-trained special agent hanging out with a bunch of grown men that hold the behaviour of high school students."

"I guess you have a point, but I am doing my best to make them better than they are now. They're something I'd never seen before."

"That's because they weren't meant to be soldiers, remember? They started out as simulation troopers, they never actually assimilated into the whole hive mind of the UNSC. They know how to work outside the rules."

"I understand, they don't belong anywhere else. So just by being around others like them, it just works."

"Sure, they _are_ shit individually, but together, they bring out the best in one another. You're doing a great job too, however you are included in this oddball family. Remember that. So in a way, you are unprofessional!"

Washington didn't respond and only watched as Cerri continued on her way back to the base, he instead made his way up to the comm tower to have a discussion with Tucker.

As Cerri walked into the base to see Rose and Caboose talking while Freckles stood there in silence, yet he had a sombrero on his head.

"Yo, what's with the Spanish looking robot, that isn't Lopez or Dos-Point-O?"

Rose turned her attention to the dark soldier and smiled, "Caboose took a picture of Freckles and put it on Basebook!"

"And Basebook is…?"

"Just a remake of Facebook that Simmons created."

Rose's change of attitude confused her friend, considering the fact that they just recently had a fight not even half an hour ago.

 _A childish fight in my opinion,_ Cerri commented in her quickly before returning to reality.

"Speaking of which, where is Simmons?"

"Oh he's on the terminal in the briefing room."

"Thanks."

Cerri made her way there to check on Simmons, since he was clearly losing his sanity among other things. She in fact, did find the the sim troop in front of the terminal blinding himself with meaningless information. Like many teenagers have done before.

"Simmons, for fucks sake. I will destroy that terminal if you don't log off for five minutes."

"But why? I'm talking to Donut and Doc!" Simmons whined as he continued to type, Cerri couldn't help but feel like a mother talking to her angsty teen son. It creeped her out a bit.

"Ugh, fine. I'll get off the stupid terminal…" He muttered to himself grumpily as he stood up and turned to face me, his arms crossed as he looked away, not meeting Cerri's eyes.

"Simmons, I'm just saying this isn't healthy. Going outside for five minutes will actually do you some good."

"But…But what if they forget about me?"

Cerri caught the sadness resonating in the tone of his voice, it was one she's heard on countless occasions during the Red vs Blue series. Still it didn't make sense to her, even if Sarge treated him badly, and Grif barely treated him kindly he still missed them. Maybe it was a guy thing, who knows. But she had to admit, there were many heartwarming moments between the Reds.

With a sigh she gestured to the outdoors, "Go visit them."

"Huh?"

"Go to red base and visit them, I'll tell the others."

"But what about-"

"-And I'll take care of Freckles, now go before I change my mind about having some compassion."

"Thanks Cerri, I owe you!" He wrapped his arms around the woman and she was surprised at the unusual kind gesture, but accepted it anyway.

"No problem."

But sadly, the moment was ruined when a cube with orange accents came in through the window. It exploded and a wave of waste flowed into the briefing room, it caused Simmons to hold onto Cerri with inhuman strength and scream. The young woman was just as startled as he was and cursed with all her might, "Jesus Fucking Christ!"

She examined the garbage on the floor and came to the conclusion that it was all Grif, there were wrappers and morphed disgust of many things: candy, chips, cakes, pizza, burgers, fries, there were even soda cans everywhere! It left a horrid smell as well, Cerri wouldn't have smelt it if she had worn her helmet. But it was in her room at the moment.

Simmons had let go of Cerri and fell to the floor, she looked down at him to see he was curled up in a ball. He rocked back and forth mumbling to himself, it didn't help at all. However, she did remember the cause of this monstrosity in that moment.

Rose and Caboose rushed in and stopped in their tracks when the behemoth came into view.

"Oh my god! What the hell happened?! It looks like a post-apocalyptic wasteland in here!"

"Fucking piece of shit cube of the future, comprised of all Grif's shit! Donut fucking threw it here! Of all places!"

"It's so gross! We have to get rid of this!"

"I'll go get Wash and Tucker to help!" Caboose exclaimed, he ran through the garbage with no trouble but the two girl gagged in displeasure. The stench was too much to handle, unbearable beyond words.

"That's it! I'm getting my helmet!" Without another word, she rushed to her room and left Rose to handle Simmons once more.

"Why can't I have a break?"

She knelt down next to Simmons and tried to sooth him, but wasn't exactly working. He wouldn't stop talking to himself and it scared Rose, but she had to pull through so he wouldn't completely lose it. But she could feel it sticking to the bottom of her boots, even with the armour protecting her feet it was incredibly sickening. But Simmons was _sitting_ in it, that must have been mind shredding!

"Woah, what the fuck happened in here?" Tucker couldn't believe what he was seeing, Caboose felt the same as he stood beside his subordinate.

"Well according to Cerri, it was Donut, Grif and a future cube?"

"That makes way too much sense."

"How are we gonna get rid of this?" She got straight to the point, hoping to not spend another second in this horror. Cerri stepped inside to see most of Blue team assembled, her helmet was on her head and she able to breathe with no worries.

"Well, first I believe we should get one of Grif's future cubes. And then send it back the way it came."

"And where did you go?" Tucker asked, Cerri gave a light knock to her helmet as a response.

"To block the stench, bitch."

Rose shook her head at Cerri's casual swearing, but then came to a realization, "Wait, where are Freckles and Wash?"

"Wash said he needed to get something before he came here, wonder what it was?"

"Um, Caboose! Could you come out here?!" Wash's voice seemed to echo into the briefing room, everyone stopped and listened for a moment. Caboose responded to his name being called and went over to the balcony, so he could see Wash clearly.

"Caboose!" Wash called out louder, hoping to find a way out of his sudden predicament.

"Hello!" Caboose greeted in his usual happy manner, it made his team wonder if he ever actually has any moods that are negative.

"Your pet is trying to kill me!"

"What? That does not sound like Freck... Hey Freckles, Freckles what are you doing?"

"Agent Washington has failed to meet the minimum requirement of Blue Team service and is no longer fit for duty. He must be eliminated."

"See, he's just doing what he just said."

Rose facepalmed, but then realized she couldn't reach her face with the helmet in the way. So she concluded it would be a visor-palmed, so correction, she visor-palmed.

"Caboose, please come here, I need to talk to you!"

"Agg, probably wants to talk about what an awesome leader I am." The blue soldier said to himself as he went passed his subordinates and headed down to the man and robot, the rest of them rushed over to the balcony to see how this went down.

Caboose came out of the base and stood next to Freckles, he switched on his 'professional' demeanour like an actor would, "Yes, hello, what seems to be the problem Agent Washington?"

Washington lowered his weapon and looked at Caboose for a moment, he then turned to Cerri and she gave nod of approval.

 _Say what you need to David,_ Wash seemed to read her mind but not through facial expression, but he did as she 'said' and took in a deep breath.

"I'm sorry Caboose. I'm sorry your best friend left you without saying goodbye. Maybe he thought you would try and stop him or maybe it was too hard for him to tell you but, no matter the reason, he's still gone. He left you," He made it clear that he was speaking to both Caboose and Tucker, "both of you. I don't really do emotional things and I hoped you might have been able to get over this by yourselves so I left you alone, and instead of coming to terms with what you lost, you replaced it with, well, the first thing you found. But I should have been there for you Caboose because, that's what friends do for each other…"

"Captain Caboose is not your friend, he is your commanding-"

Caboose cut off Freckles, not agreeing with what he was saying, "Uh, no we're all friends here Freckles, you know."

"That's right," Wash concurred as he started to pull something from behind his back, "and as your friend I want to say that I'm sorry. I know it's not much, I made you this."

Washington placed the surprise on the ground and moved away, revealing a standard issue blue Mark V helmet on the ground. Caboose gasped in surprise.

"Oh my god! My old helmet!"

Caboose ran to it and marvelled at it, Wash stood next to him still in his newly developed _fatherly mode._

"Captain Caboose, you should return to your duties." Freckles attempted to stop what he thought was illogical and impractical, but Wash was prepared this time.

"I know you really like Freckles, Caboose. But you have to understand that he's very dangerous. He's not a puppy anymore...a kitten? Or ... he's really big."

"Yeeaah...He blew up a car." He agreed with Wash, reminding him of the time he almost killed Sarge.

"I remember that."

It was then that Caboose knew that he had to let go of his grief for a while, and the first step was to take responsibility. He stepped up to Freckles, a sad look on his face that his underneath his helmet but not in his tone.

"Freckles, you- you're one of the best machines I know. And that is saying something because I have been friends with a lot of machines. But... From now on, I think you should listen to Agent Washington."

"Are you sure?" Freckles asked, for some reason it sounded like he actually had some emotion in that cold technical hard drive of his.

"Yeah, yeah he's very smart and really nice."

Freckles took a moment to process this before giving an answer, "...Acknowledged."

"You can be leader again if you want to, Wash. It's...It's not as much fun as it looks. I think I'm more like the dashing second in command kind of person. Ya' know, all the perks no work."

"Thank you, Caboose."

"Hold up," They turned their attention to Cerri who made her way out of the base during their little heart to heart conversation, "does that mean _I_ can't be second in command anymore?"

"No, you can keep the position."

"But when Caboose was captain, Freckles was at the same position. So can I have that and then Caboose can be second?" Cerri's logic seemed to confuse Wash but he didn't want to have the displeasure of sorting it out in his brain, so he agreed to it blindly. Not realizing what he had done.

"Awesome! I worked my way up the chain once more, now Wash and I are Co-Captains!"

"Wait, I-" Cerri stopped Wash from protesting by grabbing onto his arm, holding it tight to distract him with her womanly features. He turned his head away and looked in a random direction, his subconscious screaming at him.

 _What the hell have you gotten yourself into?!_

Cerri chuckled as she loosened her grip and gave a smirk to the side, "Come on, I'm just kidding. We're at the same military rank now."

"It's like you two are in an awkward marriage!" Rose exclaimed with a tone of annoyance, her voice bounced off the walls of the base.

"I don't see no ring on my finger! So this marriage is unofficial!"

"Ah! It fits perfect! And look, someone left some gum!" Their attention went to Caboose who had the put on his new 'old' helmet, obviously he was happy to have it. Tucker approached Washington with a smirk underneath his armour.

"Pretty sneaky, Wash. A couple of mushy words, a present and you're right back up at the top." He said as though it was expected of the former Freelancer.

"Nothing sneaky about it. I meant every word."

The sounds of something short circuiting caught everyone's attention once more, and they turned to Caboose. He looked around blindly with a black visor, the lights went off inside.

"Uh oh. I ugh...I can't see anything. Hello?"

"You still need to work on your craftsmanship, though." The Aqua soldier commented.

"OH MY GOD I'M BLIND!"

"One thing at a time, Tucker."

"Uh... Can people see me? I can't see them!" Caboose asked as he dropped his gun and started to feel around, Cerri picked up his gun and placed it back in his hands.

"Caboose, we can see you. You can't see anything, the lights shorted out in your helmet."

Rose and Simmons shortly joined them and Cerri left Caboose to the white soldier.

"Well, at least we don't have a killer robot to worry about anymore."

"Please don't jinx us, Tucker." Rose begged half-sarcastically as she held onto the Caboose, to make sure that he wouldn't go anywhere. The dark-skinned girl let out another chuckle before stopping suddenly, the mellow expression on her features disappeared as she unconsciously placed a hand on her head.

 _Why does my head feel like it's being played with like play-dough?_ She thought to herself as she tried to breathe, but she couldn't feel many of her senses. Her body tumbled to the ground and everyone reacted quickly.

"Cerri!" Rose rushed to her friend's side and lifted her up a bit to see she started to see her twitching, flashes of pain went through her captain's neural system.

"Ah! Fuck!"

"What's happening?" She asked frantically getting her to lie against a nearby boulder, she pulled off her helmet and held her head tightly.

"It feels like my mind is being torn apart like paper!"

"Just try to breathe, we'll go get Doc-"

Suddenly, gunshots were fired and everyone instinctively took cover, "Holy shit! What was that?!"

Washington cautiously looked over to see four soldier in white armour with green accents, they raised their arms to them and continued to shoot.

"Who the fuck are these guys?!"

Rose watched as Caboose wandered around on the battlefield, she couldn't do anything while she watched over her friend who was currently having a migraine like to other.

She continued to hold her head and squirm as if her mind was going to explode, Cerri had never experienced something like this before. It was painful beyond words, it was like a new way of presenting déjà-vu.

 _I know I've felt this before, but I can't remember where from. Someone help me!_ _  
_  
Luckily Washington saw that Caboose had no protection and acted quickly, "Freckles, cover Caboose!"

Freckles had crouched in front of Caboose, shielding him. Rose let out a sigh of relief before going back to Cerri, who grasped her hair in handfuls.

Simmons stood up from cover, in an attempt to compromise with the enemy.

"Stop shooting! We're friendly!" He announced with an awkward smile-however they couldn't see it-, but it didn't change anything and they continued to shoot regardless. Simmons ducked back down in fear of being injured, as always.

"That's the opposite of what I said!"

"Fuck this!" Tucker suddenly exclaimed, he got up from cover and shot down one of the enemy soldiers. Wash saw this and protested against it.

"Wait! We don't know who they are!"

"They're the guys who are gonna kill us if we don't kill them first!" He yelled back, giving a long and stern stare. Washington gave a nod before turning to Freckles and giving out the order.

"...Freckles, take them out!"

"Engaging targets."

Freckles rose up and fires his missiles, killing all three soldiers with ease. He went down on his hind legs once more.

"Primary threat eliminated."

"Is everyone okay? Rose? Cerri?"

"We're alright," Rose responded to Wash's call, "Cerri's a bit better!" She looked over the bridge to see Sarge, Grif and Dos-Point-O crossing over in a panic.

"What in sam hill is goin' on!?" Sarge exclaimed in confusion, both him and Grif asking the obvious questions.

"Who were those guys?"

"We don't know."

Tucker added onto Wash's simple answer, "They just showed up and started shooting!"

 _"Oh, man... I suddenly feel bad for not warning everyone."_ DPO said to himself in a voice of regret, Rose caught onto what he said and gave him a look of confusion, that he didn't catch himself.

"Shut up, Lopez. This isn't the time for jokes." Sarge barked at the Spanish robot, and that immediately changed his mind.

 _"And now I regret nothing."_

 _"Wait, you knew this would happen?!"_ Rose yelled in Spanish to get DPO's attention, he jumped slightly and turned to her.

 _"Yes, but no one would listen to me! And I wasn't able to talk to you or the Mantis would have destroyed me on sight!"_ _  
_  
"Rose, calm down. We need to get inside, can you carry Cerri?" The blonde turned to the cobalt soldier and shook her head.

"No sorry, I can't." The man approached the pair and handed his gun to Rose, he lifted Cerri with ease.

"It's fine, I got her." They all gathered around Wash, awaiting his order. He looked down at Cerri who was still in slight pain.

"You alright?"

"I've had better days…" She groaned as she turned her head to see behind Wash, she squinted her eyes when she saw a faint glare in the distance. Like there was some sort of distortion.

"Alright. Let's move inside. We need to find cover in case there's more hiding out in the-"

Cerri's eyes widened when she realized what she was looking at, and put all her weight on Washington to make him fall on his back.

"Look out!" Everything moved quickly, the co-leaders fell to the ground as they both let out groans of pain. Then a grey and orange soldier jumped out of hiding and deflected the sniper shot with his hardlight shield.

"Run!" The unknown soldier yelled, Simmons rose his gun immediately.

"Look out! It's another one!"

Another shot was fired and hit the stranger in the leg, causing him to crumple over in pain.

"Gah! SON OF A BITCH!" He cursed out loud, it left a ring of confusion.

"Wait. I'm confused."

The orange soldier turned to us and gave a glare through his Scout helmet, "What are you doing?! I said run!"

"Excellent work soldiers." Everyone froze and turned to one direction, a bit startled by the dark voice. A black and green armoured soldier uncloaks himself nearby.

"You killed my men. I suppose that makes you the real deal."

"Okay, now I'm really confused." Rose rolled her eyes at Simmons but then jumped once more at the killer's audible voice.

"Quiet! All of you, come with me now."

Washington and Cerri shared a glance before he asked simply, "...And why would we do that?"

"Because if you don't come now I'll have to take you later."

"Fuck off!" Both Cerri and the scout shot back at the same time, they stopped and stared at each other for a second before their attention was turned back to the black-armoured son of a bitch.

"You, shut your mouth and be glad I missed your head."

"Sounds like you've got shit aim, and a big gun to compensate." Cerri spat causing Tucker to try and hold in a laugh along with everyone else, even the scout thought it was a bit funny but still replied for himself.

"My god, you're such a douchebag!"

"Yeah what they said!"

The sniper let out a lowly growl before speaking once more, "This is your last chance." It seemed that Cerri had touched a bit of a nerve with that comment, but he tried to hide it.

Said girl and her rank equivalent exchanged looks of agreement and gave a nod, the black soldier turned to the Mantis and signalled him to fire away, "...Freckles!"

Before he could be fired upon, the two toned man cloaked and disappeared. Grif was surprised at the display, due to the fact that he hadn't seen something like that since Tex back in Blood Gulch.

"Holy shit, did you see that?"

"No! What happened?! Please describe it to me! Use only small words!" Caboose yelled loudly, as if his sight affected his hearing. Rose decided to answer him.

"A man disappeared like magic."

"Oooh…"

"Um," Everyone turned to the scout who stood there cringing in pain, "any of you guys know how to patch up a leg?"

With a sigh Doc walks off to the blue base for a first-aid kit, "I'll go get some orange juice."

"Wait, that's a thing?"

"Come on." He started to walk off but stopped and looked down at the captain pair.

"Um, are you guys just gonna sit there or…"

They looked down to see the position they were in, it was an unexpected outcome but now Wash was practically pinned down to the ground by Cerri. He couldn't say a word, and watched his co-captain's reaction even though he couldn't see her face.

"Piss off, PDA isn't illegal. Plus, we're in an unofficial marriage. So it's fine."

"Thank god Tucker didn't say anything this time." Wash muttered to himself as he turned away from them.

"Bow Chicka Bow Wow."

" _Cerri!_ "

" _What?!_ At least it wasn't Tucker who said it! I said it in his stead!"


	8. What Happened To Us?

Cerri stood beside Wash and Rose stood beside her, they waited patiently until Doc was finished patching up the supposed ally's foot.

"There, good as new." Doc announced in a happy tone as he stood up and backed away.

The now fixed patient stood there for a moment before saying, "I can't feel my toes."

"That's normal." Donut answered with an assured tone.

"Is it?"

Once that was said and done, Washington aimed his rifle at the man's face causing him to raise his hands in defence.

"H-hey, whoa!"

"You need to start talking."

Rose opened her mouth to protest against his sudden action but Cerri had put up an arm in front of her, she took a glance at her commanding officer before continuing to watch the scene before her. But it seemed the scout wasn't as scared as they would've expected: he lowered his arms went back to his normal tone.

"Hmm, aggressive, paranoid, and a little melodramatic—you must be Agent Washington." He concluded as he went over the main aspects of Washington's personality, it made Tucker laugh without hesitation.

"Ha! Melodramatic."

"And that means the rest of you are the Reds and the Blues."

"Oh my God, how did he know that?!" Caboose suddenly exclaimed in shock, but he wasn't exactly looking at the scout. It seemed like he was staring off into the distance. Grif stared at him blankly with a plain answer, "We're wearing red and blue armor."

"But how can he tell?"

"Will somebody please fix his helmet?"

"But these two," The scout started as he looked the two females from top to bottom, "I don't know." Rose could hear the slight edge to his voice and shifted closer to Cerri, however her black-armoured friend only loosened her stance and gave her usual stink eye to him.

"That's none of your concern for now, _Scout_." He seemed a bit taken back by her nickname for him but kept his composure.

"How do you know who we are?" Washington asked, not changing his tone.

"Seriously? Come on man, everybody knows about you guys. You're heroes."

"Heroes?" Sarge repeated confused.

The scout continued on with his answer to try and convince them, "You're the team that brought down Project Freelancer. You're some of the galaxy's greatest soldiers."

Simmons looked at the others before speaking, "Well, I can see how you might think that."

"Because it's absolutely true!" Sarge spoke with pride, but then Doc and Grif respectively, shot it down.

"It's partially true."

"But mainly false."

"Stop giving him information." Washington ordered them, Cerri waved Wash off to calm him down.

"Wash, calm down would you?" She looked at the man with arms crossed, "What's your name, Scout?"

"Well, it certainly not _that_. It's Felix."

"Okay, _Felix_ , what are you doing here?"

"Do you want the long answer or the short one?"

"Do you want another bullet in your leg?" Washington inquired with a little edge to his tone, like he would cut you with it. But Felix shot back immediately.

"Hey, that bullet's there because of you."

"He's got a point." Tucker said siding with the scout, but Cerri then corrected him.

"No he doesn't, he could have dodged it easily."

With a sigh, Wash lowered his gun.

"Just...explain what's going on."

"Uh yeah, like who were those guys that were trying to kill us?" Grif questioned followed by Simmons, "And why haven't we been rescued yet?" Felix stopped for a second before giving them an odd look from underneath his helmet.

"Wait, where do you think you are?"

"What do you mean?" Both Tucker and Rose asked at the same time.

"I mean, do you understand where you've crashed?"

"Well, we've been taking bets. Highest wager's currently on Bermuda Triangle. After that, we've got Gilligan's Island and purgatory." Sarge had explained causing Grif to shake his head at his childishness.

"So stupid."

"No, just think about it. It makes perfect sense." Donut true to reason with Grif, but then Rose interjected.

"The first two, possible but highly doubtful. Purgatory is absolutely out of the question."

Felix returned to what he was saying before he could be interrupted by nonsense once more, "The reason no one's come to help you is the same reason no one's come to help them." He gestured to the four white-armoured soldiers dead on the ground.

"Them?" Inquired Simmons, making Felix clarify what he meant.

"The people on this planet."

"What planet, might I ask?" Cerri asked lazily, she was in a bit of a bitchy mood at the moment for some odd reason. She didn't really take this situation seriously, maybe it was because of Felix's presence. Or possibly something else. Nonetheless, Felix answered without returned attitude.

"Chorus."

"Never heard of it." Tucker stated in a cool tone. That's when Felix turned the sass on a bit.

"Well, I wouldn't expect you to. It's on the very edge of colonized space, and after the war between the humans and the aliens, it was more or less forgotten by Earth and the UNSC."

"We crashed in the middle of nowhere, on a planet in the middle of nowhere." Grif summarized Felix's answer as to where they were in simple terms, it didn't please him one bit, "Fucking beautiful, everybody."

"But how did we end up so far from home? It should have been a short flight."

Sarge cleared his throat uncomfortable, before speaking in a nervous tone, "Uh, one mystery at a time there, Simmons." Both Earthling girls knew he had something to do with the Reds and Blue inevitable crash, Cerri knew they all had a part in it. But neither of them said anything, and let Felix continued on with his little history lesson on Chorus.

"Now, being a small planet, completely free of UNSC jurisdiction, the nice little people of Chorus decided to run things on their own. The only problem was, they didn't do a very good job."

"Ugh, history's the worst. Can you just get to the point?" Grit whined in displeasure at learning supposedly uninteresting things, causing the Orange-trimmed soldier to snap at him.

"The _point_ _is_ , you've crash-landed in the middle of a civil war. And I'm on the side that's trying to keep you alive."

"And which side is that?" Both blue team leaders asks in sync with one another, Felix paused for a second a bit creeped out by their synchronicity and answered them.

"The New Republic. Essentially, a bunch of people got fed up with the way things were going on Chorus, so, they put together a rebel army and decided to fight for their freedom. It's all very patriotic."

"So, what? Does that make those guys the Evil Empire or something?" Tucker asked in a bit of sarcastic tone, but wasn't expecting to Felix to answer with a yes.

"Oh. Well, fuck." He deadpanned, this whole explanation confused Washington a bit.

"But why the attack? Why try to kidnap us?" The ex-freelancer asked hurriedly.

"It's like I said: you're the greatest soldiers in the galaxy. That makes you a pretty hot commodity. And I'd be lying if I said my shitty attempt at a rescue mission didn't have a few strings attached."

This made Sarge a bit skeptical and he had to ask, "What kind of strings we talking here?"

Felix let out a dragged on sigh before speaking once more.

"The rebels need your help. Once they heard that you were on Chorus, they sent me out with a small team to find you and bring you back. They're hoping you might be the key to winning this war."

There was a long pause of silence amongst the Reds and Blues as they exchanged looks with each other, as if conversing with their eyes. When the silent eye conversing was finished, Grif was the first to speak.

"Hmm, no."

"No?" Felix repeated surprised.

"Yeah, no."

"Yeah, that, that's not gonna work, for me."

Washington tried his best to explain their reason for not wanting to join this war as best he could, "Look, Felix, I hate to break it to you, but we're in no condition to fight a war."

"All we want is a ride off this shitty planet." Tucker said, giving a much more direct answer instead of tip-toeing around it, but then gave a quick apology to try and smooth it over, "No offense."

"Meh, it ain't my shitty planet." Doc gave him a look of confusion.

"Aren't you one of the rebels?"

"No, I'm a freelancer."

His answer triggered all of the soldiers around him, excluding Caboose, immediately aim their weapons at Felix. Even Doc rose his medical scanner. Cerri and Rose however, couldn't do a thing since they were unarmed.

" Guys," Cerri said sternly, " I think he meant _mercenary_."

The group lower their weapons in a wave of relief, "Oh, thank God." But that caused Rose to speak up once again.

"Wait, so they paid you to come and find us?"

"They pay me to do lots of stuff, but yeah, you're my current paycheck."

"How reassuring."

"So you want us to go fight someone else's war, just so you can make some extra cash." Washington was unimpressed by his motives, but Felix still tried to hold a strong negotiation.

"...Uh, it's for a good cause?"

"Right. We'll just take that ride out of here, if you don't mind."

"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about! Mediocrity." Tucker cheered happily, it made Rose glare at him through her visor. Then Grif joined and only made it worse.

"Woohoo! Here's to not going that extra mile."

Taking a breath in, Felix said one last thing before turning away.

"You know, I wasn't alone when I came out here to find you. There were three of us. Just think about that."

He put some distance between him and the Blood Gulch group, to give them time to make their final decision.

"Whatever. It's not like we asked them to save us." Grif said in a condescending voice, Simmons countered him with strong sarcasm.

"Yeah, we _definitely_ didn't build a giant radio tower to send a distress signal or anything."

"Shut up."

"Guys, this is serious," They all turned to Rose, she held a look of empathy underneath her helmet, "don't you think we should at least try and help?"

"I thought you guys wanted to go back home as soon as possible?" Grif asked, Rose didn't have anything to say to that. Cerri cut into the conversation.

"At this point, I could give zero fucks about heading back home. Plus, I highly doubt we'll be able to. Either way, I'd rather help finish this before going back to my boring old life. Besides, we're already registered into the UNSC database, even if it is unofficial."

Washington stayed silent, repeating Cerri's resolve in his mind but still couldn't make his decision. He did want to help the New Republic, but the last thing wanted to do was get wrapped up into another blood bath. There was also the fact that his men were not exactly fit for the battlefield, even if they were able to fight of dozens of Tex clones, but they had Carolina and himself at the time along with Epsilon. And to top it all off, two city girls who just decided to hop onto the ride without any actual military training or experience.

Before he could say anything, they all couldn't help but overhear Felix's conversation, "Uh, Felix, I can't just fly somebody out there."

"Yeah, I know, okay, but you send as many men as you can, as fast as you can. Locus has our position."

"Oh, no."

"Who's Locus?" Tucker asked, as if anyone actually knew.

"I'm assuming it's the dude with the big gun to compensate, remember?"

Tucker snickered lightly, reminiscing the moment that only happened about an hour ago. Felix continued to talk, not completely aware that the Reds and Blue were listening.

"Now I want to do this quiet, and I want to do it right. But just to be safe, bring a shitload of guns."

"Right. Sending reinforcements, sir."

"Roger. Felix out."

Felix ended his transmission and walked back to the Reds and Blues. Not being patient enough for Felix to talk first, Grif was the first to speak, "So, what now?"

"Now we work on making this canyon the most defendable hole in the ground the universe has ever seen."

"Why?" Wash asked, clearly not liking the sudden orders.

"Because we're about to get hit, hard. I need a detailed list of the supplies you've got on hand. Let's set up choke points, and mark potential sniper's nests."

"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down. We're not telling you anything. We still don't even know if we can believe you."

Felix looked Washington right in the visor with a sharp tone, "Well, believe this: if we don't prepare for a fight, we might as well just be waiting for a massacre."

There was a pause of silence as tensions grew, before it all fell, "Tucker, see if you can fix Caboose's helmet."

"Yes, who said that!"

"Sarge, you and the Reds build up an arsenal. If we can use it as a weapon, let's get it prepped."

A malicious smirk appeared on Sarge's face as he said, "I can think of a few things that might come in handy."

"Cerri, see if you can find any extra weapons to defend Rose and yourself."

"No problem."

"Felix." Wash turned attention back to the mercenary, "You and I aren't done talking."

"Well all right then. Let's see if you guys are as good as they say."

"Prepare to be sorely disappointed." Grif stated bluntly before everyone spread out and did their individual tasks.

Cerri and Rose were the first to head out of the base and towards the shipwreck to find some guns, "Rose, you already learned how to use a gun in your training back in NYC, right?" Cerri asked her friend as she headed inside the metal maze.

"Yeah, a pistol or a shotgun would work just fine for me. But I guess I'll work with whatever they've got here."

Said girl slowed down her pace when they arrived in a familiar place, her commanding officer noticed this and stopped in her tracks.

"Ro, what's up?"

"I remember this place, it's where I found that grenade gun. When we first got here."

"Oh yeah, I remember that."

Rose stepped closer to where the guns used to be and tried to spot anything useful, "Since there were some guns here before, there has to be some left. Maybe back ups just in case, you know?"

"Yeah, gotcha. But if they were for emergency, they wouldn't leave them out in the open. Maybe there's a secret compartment?" Cerri suggested as she slid her hands against the wall.

"Or, we could just check the inventory on the computer terminal." She turned to Rose to see her subordinate standing in front of a large screen with a holographic keyboard and let out a sigh.

"I really am oblivious, huh?"

Rose laughed a bit at her friend's bluntness, "Yeah, just like highschool all over again!"

"Yeah, just our group of psychos and Diamond Bear!"

At the mention of the horrid name, a shiver went up Rose's spine. She started to type away at the terminal as Cerri smirked with mischief.

"Oh, come on. You still can't be afraid of him, can you? You stopped having those nightmares, it's been about eight years. And he should be about nine years old!"

"Your logic still terrifies me to this day."

"Yep!"

Rose would never understand why Cerri found thing like that amusing, but she would always shrug it off and take it as her way of showing love. But it was an odd form of sisterly love, really.

"Oh! I found it!" She exclaimed triumphantly, Cerri went to her side to see what she had found.

"What is it?"

"There should be a bit of firepower a couple corridors away from here: we go down the hall to our left, turn right, right again, then left, and we should be there.

"Alright let's hurry, I don't exactly remember when Locus comes back."

In a flash they ran through the corridors as quickly as possible, "Hopefully there isn't some door we have to unlock."

As they continued to run, it gave Rose time to think. In all honesty, her mind was jumbled every step of the way. But even so, she managed to keep a levelled head. Like she had experienced situations like this before, she wondered if Cerri felt the same way.

But she also wondered if she would actually make it out of this alive, if she would be able to see her familiar city, her comforting apartment, she wanted to see her friends from her classes in her training. Go back to her hometown and spend some more time with her family. More than before.

She didn't have a full guarantee of going back to do all of that, but for now she could only hope.

"It should on our next left." She said, snapping out of her slight daze. When they turned the corner-but, of course-a door stood in their way.

"And I fucking jinxed it!" The black soldier exclaimed angrily, it was a security locked door with an authorization scanner.

"Well, unless one of the members of this ship is still alive. I don't know how we're supposed to get in there?"

Rose thought for a bit before verbalising her idea, "Well, we are wearing armour. So maybe if we just try to punch or kick the panel, it'll break and immediately open up the door. Like in the movies."

"Yeah that might work, go ahead." Cerri stepped back and waited for Rose to proceed with her idea.

"Wait, you want me to do it?" She asked surprised, Cerri gave nod and stood there with her arms crossed.

"Why don't you do it? You're better at kicking things than me."

"Ya damn right!" The African-Canadian stepped up and lifted up her leg, preparing to break the panel. She brought down her foot and as expected it broke and the door opened up to show a small display of weaponry.

"Ah, the power of a dominatrix." Cerri mused as she walked right into the room in an elegant manner, Rose only rolled her eyes and examined the room.

"Please don't started with that again."

The two had no trouble finding their way back to the main entrance, and made their way towards the cluster of armoured men. The first thing Cerri saw however, was the colour palette of Washington's armour.

"Woah, Wash! Way to go all espionage on us!" Cerri yelled out as they spotted all the troops in one place, except for Sarge and Doc. Her outburst caught their attention, but Rose was a bit too busy looking around at their fine work of a battlefield.

"Glad you like it, good to see you guys found some weapons."

Rose's attention was brought back and she responded with a bit of a stutter, "O-Oh! Yeah, right! Just a pistol for me."

"Well, I tried to find a Gatling gun but," Cerri slugged her gun of choice over her shoulder lazily, "I thought an SMG would be fine for now."

"Well, at least that's two less problems to worry about." Felix commented on the side, he was aware that the two girls could hear him and gladly received the light glare from Rose. Cerri was too busy thinking to care.

She could feel something screaming at her, probably her subconscious. But it was this thick atmosphere that seemed to stick to Felix, whenever she was around him. Her bitchy mood seemed to return and she felt the sudden urge to talk to Wash.

"Hey, Wash."

"Yes? What is it?" He asked, immediately picking up the bland grey in her voice.

"I need to talk to you in private."

"Of course." The two blue leaders headed inside the base, and Washington was the first to talk.

"Cerri, what's going on? Are you alright?"

"Wash, I don't think we can trust Felix."

"What? Why?"

"It's just a…feeling, I don't know how to explain it."

"That's not enough to convince me."

She struggled to find the right words for it, but then decided to just say what came to mind, "Look, Wash. I may have only known you for a short time, but now I'm at the same status as you. But aside from that, I know what my gut is telling someone me. And it's telling me, almost everything that Felix is telling us is full of crap."

"I get that, but-"

"Yeah, I know. But you have your instincts, I have mine. Plus, you're forgetting one important fact."

"And what is that?" The mentally-disturbed man asked, Cerri glared at him knowingly.

"He's a mercenary, they will say whatever they can to get their pay. And I doubt Locus is here to kill us."

"Well, how else can he insure that we don't join the rebels?"

"All I can say for now is that he's a mercenary as well, by the way he acts around Felix and vice-versa. They've known each other for a while. Plus, I can tell Locus isn't one to just neglect orders. The 'enemy' wants us to fight for them, so they want us alive. If Locus kills us, he probably loses some of his pay. So, the worst he can do is injure us to ensure we don't escape or fight back. Then he'll bring us back to his employer."

"But what about you and Rose? You two are brand-new, he probably won't recognize you as part of the Red and Blues. He might kill you both."

"…I still stand by what I say."

There was a lingering pause of silence, Wash pondered over everything she had said. But chose to save it for later, if there was a later.

"Alright, I'll keep this in mind. But on another note, I'm going to need you to stay inside the base along with Rose."

"What?"

"You won't be able to fight on your own, you have little to no military training. I can't look after you guys while I fight."

"No! Absolutely not! I refuse to stay cooped up inside when I know I can help! Even if it's a little!"

"This isn't something up for debate-"

"Yes, it is! This is about our lives here! I won't go down without a fight! If it means that I go down with everything I had, then I'll go out there!"

"My decision is final: you two are to stay inside the base and not come out until I say so, that is an order! Do you understand?!"

Cerri stood there frozen as she stared at the man before her with wide eyes, filled with shock and realization.

That's right, she was a soldier now. She hadn't realized what it meant to be a soldier: she is meant to only fight and not ask questions, to follow orders without hesitation. She was stuck on a planet that was in the middle of a war, she was a part of this. But it wasn't the war that phased her, it was the fact that she was faced with an authoritarian. And she didn't exactly have a good relationship with those types of people, but even as she grew up, she was forced to submit or face consequences that weren't exactly fair. So here she was, a grown woman who _had_ her freedom but now is back where she started.

"Understood, sir…" She answered bitterly, she started to walk away with her SMG at her side in a tight hold. Washington had just realized what he had said to her and stuttered out a failure of an apology.

"W-Wait! Cerri-"

She disappeared around the corner and headed outside, her ears immediately blocked out anything he would say to her from then on. Rose stood by Tucker, looking out for any possible sights of their enemy until she caught sight of her friend.

"Cerri, what's up?"

She caught the sour look on her face and she couldn't help but ask, "What happened?"

"Nothing, we're heading inside and staying there until further notice."

"What? What about-?" Cerri didn't answer anymore of Rose's questions and grabbed her roughly by the arm to bring her to the fortified walls of Blue Base, Wash quickly stepped out of the base to speak with Cerri again but she wouldn't look at his face.

"Uh-Cerri, listen. I-"

Without warning, a missile hits the side of Blue base. The girls instinctively turned their backs to protect their vital spots from any debris, everything started happening so quickly.

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

"Oh shit, they're here!" Grif exclaimed in fear, Washington reacted immediately alarmed everyone.

"Everyone, get ready!" Felix placed a hand on Wash's weapon to stop him, he carried an expression of confusion. This sudden attack was without organization and wasn't familiar at all.

"Wait! Something's not right. Locus wouldn't attack like this!"

"Well who else on this planet wants us dead!?" Tucker asked with a bit of fear coating his words, suddenly a giant robot similar to Freckles appeared firing at the red soldier.

" _Yes! Yes! Look who's stupid now, Sarge! It's YOU!"_

"Dos Point-O, cease fire! No mas! No mas!"

"Dos Point-O?" Rose slipped away from Cerri and immediately dashed towards the giant mechanical monster.

" _Dos! Wait!"_ She called out in Spanish, but to no avail.

" _FIRING MAIN CANNONS."_

Suddenly, gunfire was sent his way and he was delayed, " _Ow!"_ Rose turned sharply to look at who fired.

"Freckles! No stop!"

"Deadly force authorized."

" _Oh great. The fucking dog wants to protect them now! Wonderful."_

"Yes! Giant robot fight! Totally called that on Basebook." Donut announced excitedly, even though they were in the midst of conflict. Even so, Washington tried to calm everyone down.

"Everyone, just calm down!"

Rose shrieked slightly at the sound of the sudden gunfire from Locus, Felix spotted him and let out a curse.

"Surrender now, and I promise only to kill the mercenary." The darkly toned soldier demanded.

"Well fuck."

"You and what army?" Grif said challengingly, several soldiers in white armour uncloaked behind Locus. Ready for combat, unlike the Reds and Blue at the moment.

"The Federal Army of Chorus."

"…Well, I guess I walked right into that one."

Felix backed up and loaded his gun, "Looks like backup isn't getting here in time!"

Tucker glanced in the direction of Rose, then Cerri, then back to his leader.

"Wash? What's the plan?"

Washington only raises his rifle.

"Engaging target."

Immediately, the battle had begun. Gunfire was the first thing to ring out along with the faint battle cries. Rose was still at the front lines and she did her best to find cover, she was at Tucker's side as he began to return fire. But he looked down at her and quickly looked back to the base, "Rose! Head for the base, I'll cover you!"

She hesitated for a moment, keeping her eyes on Tucker before getting up and sprinting. She could see bullets whisk right past her but never hitting her, Cerri was close to her and guided her back, they could hear their fellow team members having a dispute on the second level.

"I hooked up Freckles, but for some reason, he's not getting any power!"

"What do you mean? We should have plenty!"

Rose and Cerri entered to see Wash and Simmons in distress, the dark armoured soldier immediately knew why.

"What's happening? How can we be out of power, you told me we had plenty!" Rose exclaimed, her belief in them winning this fight was wearing thinner by the second.

"I know, but it's all being diverted somewhere else! I don't know what it could be."

"Well, where's it all going?"

"I think I know what it might be." Everyone turned to look at Cerri, she gave Donut a knowing stare which he returned.

"You're downloading a picture onto BaseBook, aren't you?"

"DOWNLOADING A PICTURE ON BASEBOOK IS DRAINING OUR ENTIRE POWER SUPPLY?!" Both light armoured soldiers jumped at Washington's sudden outburst, but Donut tried his best to reason with him.

"It's a very high-quality picture."

"HOW DOES THAT EVEN MAKE SENSE?!"

"There isn't time to argue, we've gotta cancel the download!" Simmons interjected as he continued to type away on the computer, trying to find a way to end the connection from where they were.

"But we're pinned down. How are we supposed to-?" Suddenly, an explosion occurred and injures Donut, who screamed in pain as he fell to the ground.

"DONUT!"

Wash and Simmons immediately run to Donut and check his body. Cerri and Rose stood off to the side stunned by the sudden series of events, they couldn't believe what was happening right now. They wouldn't believe it!

"...Is he dead?" Rose asked hesitantly, Wash let out a sigh of relief and gave a shake of the head.

"No, but he's unconscious."

"Aw, good, because I did not want to go through that shit again."

"Felix! We're a man down! Where is that backup!?"

"Uh, I don't know. They should be here in a few minutes!" He replied over the comm, Wash interrupted in a panic.

"We don't have a few minutes! If we can't get Freckles online, we don't stand a chance!"

Rose watched the battle outside, but then noticed Tucker leaving his post and running in the direction of Red Base.

"Tucker! Wait!" She called out, and without a second thought jumped out to run after him.

"Rose!"

She ignored the call and followed Tucker without hesitation, trying her best to keep up as best she could. Seeing her teammate take down every obstacle in his path.

 _Woah…_

She stayed close behind as Tucker entered the Red base, a dead Fed soldier a couple feet away. But there was another sneaking up behind him with a gun pointed to the back of his head, Rose hid and watched slightly paralyzed.

"Freeze!"

"Oh crap."

"What do I do?" She muttered to herself as she glanced down at her gun, she didn't exactly like the idea of having to kill someone but at this point she didn't have much of a choice. With a deep breath, she raised her gun and aimed to fire.

"You and your friends have caused us a lot of trouble. Now lay down your weapon-"

Rose's brows shut up in surprise, she did fire but at his back not his head. There were two bullet holes visible in the soldier's armour.

 _Then, who…?_ Tucker had turned around to face someone Rose couldn't see.

"What the hell?"

The blonde ran in with her weapon at her side, relieved to see her friend without injury.

"Tucker! Thank god you're okay!"

"Rose?" He inquired confused at the sight of the girl, she gave a smile with a sigh.

"Yeah, I saw you run off and followed. Guess I wasn't much help was I?"

" _And what about me?"_

The two turned their attention to the spanish robot who stood to the side with a Magnum in hand, he didn't show an expression but you could tell he was annoyed.

"Dos-Point-O?"

" _No, idiots."_

Tucker immediately recognized the sound of the robot's confusing insults and exclaimed happily, "Lopez! That was fucking awesome! Where'd you get that body?"

"I think that was Dos's?" Rose guessed a bit hesitant, but Lopez nodded in response.

" _What she said."_

"I don't know what you just said, but that's great. Now let's get out of here!" The aqua-coloured soldier grabbed onto Rose's arm and pulled her along back to the main battlefield, she blushed but didn't fight back.

"O-Okay!"

Back at the Blue base, the power was being sent back to them and Freckles was starting to get his shields charged up. It was a short celebration but a much needed one considering the shit they were in, however, that didn't stop Cerri's resolve in the very least.

"Simmons, you stay here and make sure Freckles get online. Wash and I will head down there!" Cerri ordered as she loaded up her SMG with a grin, her veins were pumped with adrenaline but Wash immediately tried to shoot the mood down.

"Wait, Cerri-"

"David, please. Just let me be the soldier I signed up to be."

They stared at each other intently, she waited for his answer with a strong sense of determination and hoping that he would understand.

Simmons coughed and caught both their attention, "Uh, should I leave or…?"

They both immediately caught what the red soldier was implying and Wash was the first to speak, "No, stay there and do as ordered. Cerri, let's go." Her eyes lit up and she nodded firmly, both dashing off to go help the others.

"So, have you ever used a gun?"

"Kind of, I mean, Rose brought me to a shooting range once or twice to try it out. I'd say I was okay."

"You better hope, I'm counting on you."

The second they stepped out onto the ground, Cerri bravely raised her gun and started to fire at any enemy soldier close by. Her and Wash were back to back and keeping an eye out for each other, she had to admit though it was a bit hard to concentrate with the surround sound of guns. She had gone paintballing, and had gone to a shooting range but this wasn't anything like that. It was all quick fire and no cover, but she could handle it. She would have to.

"Alright, everyone together! We can do this!"

Cerri had a smile on her face, _We're going to win! We're going to make it out alive!_

She had turned away for a second to see Locus in the distance, his railgun was loading up and she instinctively pushed Wash out the way. The shot was quick and not as painless as she expected, her body fell to the ground but she wasn't knocked out. The injury was letting blood seep through her side as she cried out.

"CERRI!" Wash called out, she forced herself to get up on her knees as Wash crouched down and tried to help her up. But another shot was fired and Wash collapsed onto the ground.

"Wash!" She let out a cry of agony as she tried to reach out for him but cringed and rolled to her side.

"Are they okay?"

"Cerri!" Rose called frightened, Cerri could feel the adrenaline still pumping in her veins. The fear slowly transitioning into rage, it pushed her to get up and hold up her SMG with a deadly grip and glare. Her back was hunched over but she ignored it the best she could and advanced whilst firing rounds. She could see one by one, her comrades falling but she continued to fight.

"Get the others to cover, we need to hold up the front!"

Rose stared at her friend shocked, she had never seen this kind of determination before.

"Rose!"

She immediately took cover when she heard the sounds of rockets fired at them, a rocket jeep had drove in.

"Incoming!"

Before anymore rockets could be fired, Freckles had jumped back up to life and blocked the Fed's line of fire, but in turn he started to fall apart.

"Freckles! No!" Caboose cried, the silence fell over everyone as the sound of rumbles and explosions came to pass only moments later. Everyone looked around cautiously, preparing themselves for whatever came next. It seemed as though a miracle had been handed to them as the final explosion came and dozens of tanned soldiers charged in, guns blazing.

"FOR THE NEW REPUBLIC!"

"They're here! That's our backup!"

Cerri continued to fire and ignored the seething pain, the gash was much worse than she first assumed and her armour was in need of serious repair. It was compromised, but luckily the oxygen level of the environment was only 0.05% higher than Earth and is sufficient for-

 _Wait,_ Her mind froze for a split second, _the oxygen level? How did I know-?_

"Cerri! Fall back!" She heard Felix call her name, but it was slowly being muffled as her mind started to succumb to the blood loss. Her suit had constricted around her stomach to try and reduce the bleeding. She looked around to see soldiers fall after being shot down, she easily followed where the shot was coming from and aimed. The distortion of light clear in her view, but when she pulled the trigger someone had tackled her to the ground and the shot missed. Her instincts took over and she was about to slam the butt of her SMG into the attacker's face but stopped to see it was Wash.

"Cerri…run…" The crimson blood was contrasting his grey stealth armour, her eyes widened as she tried to get up and carry him to a safe place. Her legs were weak and gave out from underneath her.

"Take care of them, please…"

"W-Wash-" Her breath hitched as she started to struggle with breathing, vision was fading quickly as she fell to the ground. Felix ran in their direction and tried to keep Cerri conscious, but Wash grabbed his gun and forced himself to get up.

"Felix, get her out of here!"

The armoured mercenary looked at Wash wide eyed, "We all have to fall back!"

"Felix! Go!"

The Feds were advancing quickly, Felix had no second thoughts as he hauled Cerri over his shoulder and bolted for the cave. It became a monumental challenge to keep her eyes opened.

 _Need to…get to…N-Need to…to safety…_

She fell under, that last thing she felt was the ground rumbling underneath her as the dark collapsed over her. It was cold. It was numb. She felt drained but at the same time she could feel herself being lifted.

… _le…!_

" _Wh…"_

… _Gale…!_

 _A…girl?_

 _Ga…ry…_

" _*sigh* Fuckin Gary…"_

"Cerri!"

Her eyes snapped open as she took a deep breath of air, adrenaline pumped through her and she believed she was still on the battlefield. Her shaky hands rushed to her face and felt for whatever it was that covered her mouth.

"Cerri! Cerri, it's okay! You-"

The mask was ripped off and she jumped off the bed without a second to waste, needles and tubes were disconnected from her body and the loud beeping of a heart monitor made her jolt. Everything around her was just a jumble of noise and she couldn't focus.

 _Where's Wash?!_ Her eyes searched the room frantically, she couldn't distinguish friend from foe and became terrified. _Run!_

"Wait!"

Her feet carried her out of the room and far away, the path was rough and uneven causing her to stumble but her speed didn't let up. Light reflected off the plain white walls, the clanking of armoured feet that stood back as she bolted through, the cold, sharp surface was sensitive for her feet. Her mind screaming at her to get away.

"Someone stop her!"

Her pace picked up as she saw the door in front of her start to close, it was a risky move to slip through but when she did her lungs started to give out.

 _Temperature's currently below zero, the air's too frigid and my body isn't prepared for this. I'm under too much stress! I can't-_

"Cerri! Get back inside! You aren't dressed!"

She turned back and kept her distance in a defensive position, her heart raced and matched the speed of her mind. The first person she spotted was a familiar grey and orange figure.

"F-Felix-!" She gasped, a hand going to her chest. He took a step forward and she took a step back, she was up against a wall now and she was slowly losing her voice of reason.

"Hey, calm down okay? You don't have armour on and you're going to freeze." He kept advancing, her back was flat against the wall as her eyes flashed around. There were other soldiers present and watching the ordeal.

"H-Hostiles surrounding-" She started hyperventilating, "-M-me."

"We aren't hostile, we're on your side." He held a hand out, her legs folded and she slid down to the ground and raised her arms to protect her face.

"T-T-Too many guns! Th-They're armed- Armed and dangero-ous!" Her voice was straining as she continued retreating into what she thought was a ball of safety, her lungs squeezed tightly.

"Everyone clear out! There's nothing to see here!"

Everyone immediately left, the heavy footsteps dissipating as her breathing lowered. Her heart rate was slowing down, Felix picked her up and carried her back inside. Once he stepped in, she took a deep breath, and her mind calmed down gradually.

"Wh-Where are we…?"

"The main base of the New Republic…"

Her eyes looked around, she was curled in his arms like a frightened child, "Where's…" She took a breath, "Where's Washington."

"…Gone."


	9. The Right Decision

Cerri sat on a cot as the medic finished her check up on the wounds that had been dressed while she was unconscious, when she was brought back inside the medical bay of the base she immediately put her under armour on. Now a small portion of the rebels had seen her in only her undergarments however that was the least of her problems.

"That should be all, I'm surprised you didn't feel any pain from your injury." The medic, Private Berhow, put her supplies back in their rightful place while Cerri put her under armour back on. The shot to her side had to be reassessed just in case the Captain's hasty run away reopened the stitches, the Captain in question lightly rubbed her side with a frown.

"Yeah…"

"Luckily the stitches weren't reopened, your bruises were light and healed smoothly. I suggest that you don't stress yourself for the next week so that your injury heals properly. Now, aside from that, according to Felix you were hysterical. Do you have a history of anxiety attacks?"

"No. Never." Her voice becomes meek after she cleared her throat, "I've, uh, never really been in a firefight before…"

Berhow nodded slowly, "I see. It takes time to adjust to this."

"Yeah, I got it. I've done my own research before," Cerri shrugged indifferently, "I've had some friends who had anxiety attacks and stuff. Plus, curiosity."

The tan soldier stood in front of the woman and continued the conversation curiously, she stared at her expression the whole time.

"You came with the Reds and Blues right? I've heard of or seen you before."

"We're newbies, me and my friend." She quirked a smile for split second, more concentrated on her battle scar that was healing at a slow rate..

"Private Kent? She and the others had spoken with our General while we were treating you."

Cerri felt relief wash over her like a smooth wave, a sigh left her lips.

"She made it, she's okay. Thank fucking christ…" She chuckled lightly and brushed a hand through her ebony hair, the weight on her chest seemed to lighten a bit. There were still other things in the back of her head but those were things to deal with later, she pushed herself off the cot and relieved any tension in her joints.

"Where are they?"

"In their quarters, but General Kimball said she wanted to speak with you once you've calmed down."

"Alright." Cerri looked around and spotted her armour piled up on the floor right next to the bleach white cot, she quickly suited up and tucked her hair in as she put her helmet on. Soon enough, Felix came in the familiar stride full of confidence, it made Cerri roll her eyes as she put the final pieces locked in place.

"Hey Doc, I came to check if Cerri is-"

"-still having a freak out?" She cut him off and she placed a hand on her hip, "I'm good. Are you my escort to meet Kimball?"

"Who else?" He gestured for her to follow before walking off, she only shook her head lightly and followed. It seemed as though something in her mind clicked as she glanced at other soldiers around her and she instinctively began to march a bit more rigidly right behind Felix.

 _I guess Cadets turned out to be a bit useful,_ She thought as the recollections of her single year in the Naval Cadet Corps influenced her visual stature. Her back was straightened and her steps were spaced evenly in a calm demeanor, suddenly the atmosphere that she emanated was no longer one of a mellow young adult but much more professional at first glance. To be honest, it felt natural for her to close of her emotions and hold the impression of a capable, adaptive and articulate person. It

gave her something to focus on rather than trivial issues…

Well, trivial in her opinion.

They soon arrived in the main briefing room where a woman stood in tan armour with an icy trim, her steely gaze focused on the view outside the large windows that arced half of the room. Felix was the first to speak, while Cerri stayed quiet.

"Kimball," The leader turned around to face them, "I brought her for you." He stood aside while Cerri stood before her, immediately analyzing her from armoured head to armoured toes.

"Captain Vane, it's a pleasure to meet you." She saluted as she addressed the black armoured soldier in front of her. She returned the salute respectively.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, General Kimball. I was told that you wished to speak with me?"

"Yes, according to the Reds and Blues, as well as your friend Private Kent -now "Captain"-, you were the Commanding Officer alongside Agent Washington, at a rather hasty promotion."

"That is very true." A quick smirk appeared on her face before going back to her serious demeanour, letting Kimball continue.

"I'm sure you'd much rather check on your men but I felt it would be best to inform you on everything I had told them. We had received intel recently that the Federal Army has your friends alive…" Kimball hesitated for a second, but was never one to hold back bad news, "but captive."

"Were you able to find out anything else? Location? What will happen to them?" Cerri felt like a stone dropped in her stomach, feeling a bit sick.

The General shook her head with a light sigh escaping her lips, "No, we don't. But we're certain with time we'll be able to rescue them." Cerri had a feeling Kimball was biting her lip under the helmet. "That is, if you're willing to help us fight and take back Chorus. We can guarantee you that and a ship home."

Cerri had taken a moment to think about the offer, her emotions screaming at her to agree so she could save the others. But her logic coaxed her to the side of reason, halting her sudden jolt of hope and pulling it back to see the chances she had against fully trained soldiers. Then came the strong sense that came from neither her mind or heart, she decided to listen to that instead.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline."

Both Kimball and Felix were taken back by her answer.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm not going to fight." She paused for a moment to carefully structure what she was going to say in her head, "Despite my rank, I am an inexperienced soldier with no training in combat whatsoever. Maybe a little after school stuff for about a year, and a short period of self defense, but that's all I've got under my belt. That and a few recent kills I'd rather not think about...it's all sudden. It's all new and I need time to adjust, but even after that I know my answer will still be no. Not because I don't want to get involved, but because I believe I can't fight properly unless I know my enemy, and, if it goes against my morals to fight them in the first place."

"Then what are you going to do?" She turned to look at Felix who had stepped forward, "The others already decided to help, they've all got some sort of actual training, but what do you have to offer?"

"If there's one thing I'm good at, it's being an analyst. But I need to know my surroundings, my resources, what I have now and what I can make good use of. But I am not going to lift a gun to another human being to kill unless absolutely necessary." She returned her attention to Kimball, eyes sharp and determined, "Don't misunderstand, I will help. But I'm not going to fight, not that way."

There was a long pause of silence as the decision presented sunk into their minds... Was this the right decision?

Cerri didn't know, and felt a bit lost. She hoped the Reds and Blues could handle themselves, but she knew little of the Federal army of Chorus, and feared the worst of them. From what she heard from the other New Republicans, the Feds were corrupt and probably weren't above torture to get military secrets the Reds and Blues didn't have; only God knew that their prisoners were dead or

alive…

Cerri exhaled the air she was unaware she was holding. They were alive. They had to be. Her gut said that those stupid idiots were too stubborn to die anyway. Listen to it and trust it. So that's what she did, hopefully it wouldn't bite her in the ass later on.

With a deep breath Kimball finally answered, "Alright. I understand, we'll continue this conversation another time. Felix will show you to your quarters."

"Thank you, I'll be looking forward to it." She turned her back to Kimball and walked off, not waiting for Felix who stood there staring after the woman with newfound determination.

"So, you think she's got what it takes?" He asked nonchalantly, his eyes glued onto the retreating figure that disappeared down the hall.

"Yeah. She just needs time."

"She's a kid."

"No. Not really once you take the time to look."

Without another word, the mercenary walked off to catch up to the Captain leaving Kimball alone with her thoughts again.

 _Just breath Rose, you've got this. Starting tomorrow you'll be training alongside everyone,_ She paced around the room in only her under armour as she continued to try and psyche herself up, the four other newly appointed Captains loitered around trying to figure out what exactly they were going to do.

"Come on guys, we got this." Tucker tried to encourage his fellow teammates while Rose snapped out of her inner pep talk.

"Tucker's right," It was a hard comment to believe in. "We may not have much to go on… but I'm sure we can come up with something."

Grif cut in bluntly, "Like what? How to fucking surrender? That's all we really know." Simmons immediately contributed to this, the confidence level being driven into the ground.

"Grif's right, it was really Sarge and Wash that can actually fight."

"That's…not true." They all looked at Rose who stood in the middle of the metal plated floor, her arms crossed but her eyes didn't make contact with any of them.

"That…That isn't true at all." The tone of her voice slowly strengthening as she tried to muster up enough hope. "I-I saw you guys out there when the Feds attacked us, even before that when Cerri and I just hung around. I saw what you guys can do on the fly when it really counts." She looked around at all of them before her eyes locked onto the orange hued man, "Grif, you don't realize but you're pretty resourceful."

"Me? What makes you say that?"

"Those cubes, if you hadn't found those then we probably would have gotten shot down by that heavy artillery gatling gun. We were able to form a counter attack." She then pointed to Simmons, "Simmons, you're our tactician. Our guide. Sarge can be kind of stupid-"

Sarge, several kilometres away, sneezed and felt a sudden and random irritation arise. "Grif…" He muttered darkly under his breath.

Rose continued unaware, "But you helped with the tank, and you helped hook up Freckles when he was low on power." She turned to Tucker with a smile, "Tucker, you have no idea how much of a good fighter you actually are. I followed you when you went to shut down the terminal at Red base! You charged through like a juggernaut and it was incredible! And Caboose!" When she had turned to the standard blue man, she paused for a second.

"You...brought Freckles!"

"Yes! I brought Freckles!"

The rest of them were silent and repeating what the woman before them had said.

"Wow...I can't believe you have that much faith in us," said Simmons, relaxing slightly.

"I think that's all a load of bullshit, you know we're in deep shit and we're all gonna die!" Grif shouted in a panic, breaking the hopeful atmosphere. Rose felt it go as quickly as it had come, the team restless and shifting nervously.

"O-Okay! Fine! Yes, we have literally zero chance of winning. But please, for the sake of my mental health," She took a deep breath as she breathed a heavy sigh."…j-just humour me?"

Out of nowhere, Caboose had started to laugh dramatically, causing Rose to wonder what exactly was so funny at the moment.

"Caboose, what are you laughing at?" The blonde asked confused by the behaviour her fellow Captain, he held back his laughter when he saw all eyes on the child in a full-grown man's body.

"You said to humour you." He answered with an innocent tone, staring back at everyone going back to being just as lost as always. Then the sudden realization knocked her upside the head, her hand covered her face as she heaved a sigh.

"Caboose, I didn't mean literal humour. Just go along with it."

The blue soldier took a moment of still silence to try and process what Rose was trying to tell her, before something clicked in his mind and he seemed to have come to a logical understanding, by Caboose standards anyway.

"Oh! I see, I get it now." He cleared and his throat and jumped out of his seat, throwing his hands in the air. "Oh my god! We are all going to die! Huge explosions everywhere!" The other four present in the room glanced at one another, sending one another puzzled glances before Tucker returned his full attention to the man child who was currently making odd explosion sound effects.

"Caboose, shut up."

Once Caboose ceased with the noise, Rose's mind immediately got to the matter at hand. "Now, we need a game plan. So what have we learned so far?" She paused for a moment, skimming over any information in her head that could be of use, "Me, from my own training and you guys from your UNSC training," She stopped again for a moment before adding on, "and…other stuff."

Tucker was the first to contribute, thinking back to the torturous times in the canyon not that long ago. Wash had pushed a lot of standard military training onto him and Caboose, which actually helped in the long run when it came to a fight or flight situation.

"We ran drills a lot, Wash kept us on a tight schedule." His train of thought was stopped by the sudden innuendo, "Bow chicka bow wow."

"Tucker." Rose glared slightly, "Focus, please."

"Yeah yeah." The African-American waved off her weak attempt at a strict tone, "Wake up at dawn, go for a couple laps, come back for food, clean up the base, do cardio and shit."

"My schedule was similar to that, so it's a good start. Discipline was one of the most important lessons they had to offer, if we can teach that then the rest should fall like dominoes."

"There's a problem with that logic, we aren't exactly the most disciplined." Grif said as he leaned back in his chair, Simmons scoffed and muttered to himself.

"Speak for yourself, Jackass."

"Grif, if that's the case then you've got people that will help you. Just play your strengths, you've said before that you've wanted to manage people so try that out. Simmons from what I've seen you're a neat, by the books kinda guy when it comes to keeping up a proper schedule. Maybe you could come up with something."

"Really? A-Are you sure? I mean-" He cleared his throat as he tried to sound a bit more confident, "I-I'm sure I can come up with something useful."

Grit glanced at his teammate with his brows furrowed, "Did you just stroke out for a second there?" The maroon soldier in turn had stiffened in sudden fear.

"What? No I didn't!"

Rose sighs again, tired of the interruptions they were creating, "Forget about that, stay on track." She turned to Tucker, trying to remember anything significant, "Now, uh, Tucker, you're a flirt, a sweet talker. Weren't you an ambassador or something?"

"Yeah, but I never said I was a good ambassador!" He retorted snidely, making the short woman roll her eyes in growing annoyance.

"I don't know, maybe you can boost up morale and stuff like that. I'm sure the rebels will listen to you, you can get on a level that they can understand."

"What makes you say that?"

"You're one of the sassiest people I've ever met, next to Cerri." She turned away from the aqua man and returned to Caboose who sat patiently, swinging his legs back in forth, "Caboose, you'll have a very important job. Since you'll soon have your own squadron, that doesn't mean that you only focus on them. You can help others, you are our mascot of sorts."

Caboose gasped loudly, excitement rising as he thought of the many possibilities for this new job, "Do I get a costume?"

"Yes," Rose nodded, "your armour."

"Yes! It is perfect! We are the blue mans!"

Grit ignored Caboose's ridiculous outbursts and look at the blonde in the centre of the room, "Then what are you gonna do?"

The room went silent once again when Rose tried to think of what to do, the basics were taken but there was only one thing left, "I'll handle training exercises I guess, figure out what the rebels already know and play off that. Yeah...I think that'll work, hopefully it'll work. Tomorrow we'll take the time to assess the situation! After that, we can figure out what they need to work on, what's priority and anything extra on the side, then I'll put it all together."

"Oh thank god, you get all the hard work." The rather large man proclaimed as he leaned his back in his chair satisfied, that is until his weight became too much for the chair to balance on it's legs. He fell back onto the ground with a shrill curse and banged his head on the ground with a huge thud. Rose jumped slightly as she watched Grif topple to the barren earth beneath them.

"Uh, G-Grif? You alright?"

The man groaned in response but found it too much effort to actually get back up, "Can someone help me up?" Rose reached down with a hand stretched out and grabbed onto Grif's, she tried to pull him up but he was too heavy for her average upper body strength.

"Grif," She whined as she continued her efforts, "what do you eat?"

"Hey! That's insulting!"

Simmons got up and grabbed Grif's other hand, helping Rose pull, "It's supposed to be insulting, fat ass." They finally succeeded in pulling the heavy soldier up but in turn both fell on the ground, Grif stood there with a breath of relief before pulling up his chair and going back to sitting.

"I'd hurt you, but you're too far away."

A knock on the door had caught their attention as it opened up and Cerri's head peeked in to check out what was going on, "So, did the school council start without me or what?" Rose's face lit up as the door fully opened and she took this chance to hug her best friend tightly.

"Cerri! Thank god you're okay!" She let go and her eyes darted to where the shot had hit, "How bad is it?"

"It's alright, I'll have to lay low for a week but I already talked to Kimball. Seriously? You all got promoted to Captains? You just couldn't handle me being on top could you?"

"Bow chicka bow wow."

Cerri rolled her eyes as she leaned against the door frame, "So, did they tell you the dorm arrangements yet? Sadly, it's not co-ed."

"Oh that's bullshit!"

Rose ignored Tucker's comment and replied to Cerri, "Yeah, you and I are in the room two doors down. Grif is with Simmons and Tucker is with Caboose." As expected they all groaned with complaints and whining, the ebony-haired woman stopped them all together.

"Just be lucky you aren't any of the rookies that have to sleep in a huge room with a ton of their peers, it's like a camp for them. But we stay in the private quarters, so we a little more, you know, _privacy_."

"She's got a point." Felix to the left of Cerri, leaning against the wall glancing into the crowded room, "If you weren't here then you'd be below deck shining our boots."

"Oh, so I can't just order you to shine my shoes?" The Captain said in a mockingly melancholic tone earning a glare from the mercenary, she couldn't see it with the visor in the way but she could feel it.

"Sorry, but I'm not some gung-ho cadet on duty."

"What? I'm only joking, Pumpkin."

Felix took a quick stride closer to Cerri to match her level of irreverence, "Pumpkin?" She in turn grinned and stood toe to toe with the armoured fighter.

"Yeah, cuz of the orange streak." She went to poke the sharp edge of his helmet but was intercepted by his own fast finger, she merely gave a cheeky close eyed smile, "Cute nickname, don't you think? Or maybe I should stick with Scout. Hm~ What do you think, _Pumpkin_?"

Felix could feel his annoyance increasing as Cerri continued to play her meaningless games with him, now adding a ridiculous little southern accent whenever she addressed him by that idiotic nickname he immediately disliked.

"Yeah, I don't do cutesy names Babe." He leans in with a smirk, "Unless you'd prefer to get to know each other a bit more before getting to that stage."

"First, you may want to come up with an original nickname, Scout." She grinned as she walked off, Felix following close behind and they continue with their banter as Rose watched them walk off.

"I'll...talk to you later, I guess." The blonde turned back to the group of Captains with her eyebrows knitted together as she thought. "Was it just me or-"

"Oh no, I caught that too." Tucker interjected a-matter-of-factly, having witnessed the whole scene from his spot in the room.

Rose sighs heavily, "Not even two days since we've been separated from Wash and she's already looking for some new arm candy."


	10. Moxie

She leaned against the wall as she waited for the reinforced metal door to the war room to open, tapping a rhythm lightly against the SMG given to her by the soldiers in the armoury. She let out a yawn and didn't bother to cover her mouth with the helmet covering it easily for her.

 _It's way too early in the morning for this..._ Cerri's mind soon drifted off to yesterday evening, when Felix had escorted her to her own quarters and gave her a quick lesson on some of the functions of the technology provided for them with just a hint of his snark, of course. Not like she could remember it all frame by frame, only vague fixed moments that stuck in her mind like a broken record. The memories were stored deep into her subconscious waiting to be used for later, however right now her conscious mind was clouded and repeating the brief conversation she had with Kimball the previous day.

 _Seriously, an analyst?_ She breathed a faint sigh, _thank God I learned to bullshit over the years, but this? I'm pushing it…_

The doubts and fears that she had before slowly began to creep up into her mind to contribute to the jumbled mess, reminding her for the billionth time that she was only a university student. She had nothing really significant that she could possibly contribute to this cause.

The door to the war room opened up and Cerri pushed herself off the wall and stood straight, turning to the door so she could meet whoever was going to step out.

 _Relax,_ The young woman took a deep breath as Felix stepped out to retrieve her, _just stay calm and keep a levelled head. You got this...I think._

"It's show time, Babe. Try not to choke on your words." He remarked with a light smirk playing on his lips, causing her to roll her eyes and step in.

"Gee thanks…" Once the orange and grey mercenary had reentered the room with her, the door had closed behind them with an audible yet subtle stomp of clashing metal, the other visors in the room-with the exception of the guards-were now on her. Instinctively, she gave a quick salute to address them and her tone seemed to immediately change to fit the atmosphere of the room.

General Kimball stood there with another soldier at her side who sported bleach white accents on her uniform unlike the other standard privates, they both saluted in return and Cerri stepped further into the room.

"General Kimball, pleasure to see you again." She greeted with a slight nod, being careful that her stance wasn't slacking as she directed her attention to the other person with them.

Kimball replied, acknowledging the soldier's greeting, "Captain Vane." She followed her line of attention and didn't waste another second, "I'd like to introduce you to Lieutenant Valdis, she is one of our military tacticians. I had her excused from this morning's training so she could join us."

Said Lieutenant saluted once again to only Cerri, "Lieutenant Amina Valdis, Ma'am. I'd like to thank you for supporting us in this war, albeit we don't exactly have the best position at the moment." Cerri became very confused when Valdis spoke, her voice was much higher pitched than she pictured and not to mention softer.

 _She sounds younger than me..._ She thought to herself, quickly, she dismissed the thought and returned the greeting, "I'm happy to help, Lieutenant." Her gaze went back to Kimball, "I assume the other tacticians are stuck in training?"

"Yes," The General replied, walking over to the terminal near them, "I thought it'd be best to just have one come to this briefing."

"We didn't want to overwhelm you," Felix spoke up from afar as he approached the terminal as well, "I've already got some intel that might catch you by surprise."

Cerri didn't respond to his subtle mockery and stayed silent, watching him pull up various files and skimming over them herself as each one popped up. One showed up briefly that caught her eye.

"Supply inventory?"

"Each base reports their overall stock and supplies back to the Capital, so they can get whatever they need restocked. Reports go weekly." Valdis went through the brief explanation without even averting her eyes from the screen, Cerri nodded understanding.

"I'm guessing you can't get information from any of the bases closer to the Capital? You hit more...bordering bases?"

Valdis nodded and looked in Cerri's direction, "Of course, it's Felix who mostly runs the special ops for intel, hit and runs. He'd take one or two fire teams with him but, I personally prefer he did it on his own rather than our own soldiers."

"Oh really?" Her brow raised along with her curiosity as she posed the inquiry, "Better to lose the one man squadron rather than a literal squadron?"

Valdis smiled slightly for a second but agreed with her superior's remark, "Exactly."

"I hope you two ladies are done talking about my potential demise," The merc cut in with an annoyed tone to his otherwise already haughty voice, "FYI, not happening anytime soon."

"It could still happen, Scout." The sudden smirk on Cerri's lips seemed to challenge the orange striped man full of mettle, they stared each other down for a moment before Kimball broke off the interaction.

"Could we focus on the intel, please?"

Felix stepped back and returned his attention to the database, "Anyways, on my last recon mission I wasn't able to pick up much but I was able to snag their latest report on their shipments of equipment."

"Hold on," Cerri cut in once again, "if Chorus is lost to the UNSC. Where's the new equipment coming from? Even if they had manufacturers on the planet it couldn't possibly take that long for such a large shipment to get to the Capital, considering the conditions they'd need it all quickly and in short time."

"You are right about that, however, like us the FEDs have a mercenary that supplies them with everything they need…" Valdis cleared her throat as she stepped up to the terminal, sifting through the files before opening one. "I'm sure you're familiar." When it was opened the profile brought a painful reminder to the Captain's side and she winced underneath her helmet.

"Locus," She hissed subtly as she attempted ignored the lingering pain from her injury, "yeah I remember. Remind me to shoot him back next chance I get."

 _And to stop by the medical bay for some pain killers..._

"I'll be sure to." Valdis said as she quickly reviewed his profile, Kimball assisted in the overview and explanation as Cerri's sharp eyes tried to catch as much info as possible.

"He, just like Felix, has been a part of this war for a long time."

"Huh…" She threw up her eyebrows for a mere second as a heavy breath left her lungs, "ominous. Aside from the obvious information, is there anything else I should know?"

The steamy water ran rapidly, it had drenched Rose in seconds and had slowly relaxed her stressed out muscles. She breathed a sigh and savoured the warmth that ran passed her fair skin, golden blonde tresses saturating and sticking to her back as she leaned forward. Her arms supporting the shifted body weight as her hazel eyes stared down the drain, the last hour or so running through her mind. However, as the final slivers of soap were washed away, these critical thoughts had begun to wander as she took glances at the other girls present in the showers with her.

They chatted with one another lively, having light conversations about their first official training with the Reds and Blues. They held a certain type of air that was quite familiar to Rose, a faint smile whisked past her lips as she pushed off the wall and turned away to leave the showers. She grabbed a towel and began to dry herself, checking the time as she did so.

 _Shower hours are almost over…_

Luckily, she had thought ahead and had taken her new change of clothes with her, slipping into them so that she could hastily preserve the warmth that she had gained from the shower. The sweater and sweat pants she wore were a bit thin but would suffice for the time being, at least until she could get warmed up in the mess hall. She stared absentmindedly at the large ink black letters printed onto the cotton fabric, feeling a slight sense of nostalgia that was quickly slipping through her fingers.

"UNSC…" It stuck in her mind, repeating itself like a drowned out mantra, "Why is that so…?" Her words slipped out of her mouth as she tried to grasp anything significant, focusing as hard as she could with only the result of that devilish girl with vivid powdery blue hair.

A ponderous sigh was released as she muttered the all too familiar name to herself, "Diamond Bear…" But it meant something more to her than just a simple nightmare that used to cling to her dreams, this feeling of...struggle to recollect the fragmented memories grasping at the seams. Unraveling these scattered shards even more than before.

"Captain?" A voice called to her right, Rose looked past her steel locker door saw one of her newly appointed Lieutenants, she had held onto the damp white towel slung around her neck as she leaned on the weight of her right leg.

She wasn't that much younger than Rose herself, possibly eighteen. Twenty at most. She had an incredibly light tan complexion similar to the gentle tone of sand that reminded the blonde of the beaches back home, her eyes were a caffeine brown that complimented her rusted red and choppy hair. The bangs that would have swept over her sight like drawn back curtains were held back by a single silver hair clip. She wore the same standard raven black sweatpants and grey scooped neckline shirt.

 _She's seriously skinny…_ Rose thought initially as she scanned over the young adult's slim form, a slight glint of envy that washed away seconds after. It was a recurring thought that used to show up much more in her years of adolescence, or at least near the start, always something concerning her weight. She'd find it was never actually a problem, she was just as healthy as the next person and could do just the same.

That never meant those thoughts wouldn't resurface in different forms, like in rare times when she would see herself in the mirror.

Rose returned her attention to her Lieutenant's face and answered her call, "Yeah, Hana?" A quick smile appeared on the Korean soldier's soft rose lips as she leaned against the lockers.

"Why do you address me by my first name, Captain?"

Rose blinked in confusion, not quite understanding until it finally realized what she had said. She shook her head with dusty pink cheeks, clearing the sudden jumble, and spoke again.

"I-I'm sorry, Lieutenant Yeong. I-Is there something you need?"

"No, nothing it's just…" She paused, trying to find the right words as if to be delicate, "you seem off. Is everything okay?" The hazel eyed woman grabbed her shoes and closed her locker, sitting on the bench and putting them on. Yeong watched her silently, clearly catching onto her Captain's behaviour but refused to address it directly.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine." The blonde did her best to keep the stuttering to a minimum as she stared down at her boots, grabbing the laces and beginning their intricate weaved dance. Yeong continued to observe, noticing the light blush on her Captain's cheeks were slowly receding.

 _Is she really with Reds and Blues?_ That had been a thought that kept returning ever since she had laid eyes on Rose this morning, not to say she didn't seem up to par with the rest. Quite the opposite. Captain Tucker was okay, in her opinion. Nothing really special about him except for his unrelenting flirting towards a majority of Yeong's fellow sisters-in-arms. Captain Caboose was probably the most oblivious, optimistic and cheerful entity on the entire planet, however his physical strength and endurance seemed to match the output of his expression of excitement evenly, if not exceeding it. Now, Captain Simmons was a bit of a stuttering mess who couldn't get much of a clear sentence in with any of the female soldiers, but aside from that, his apparent cybernetic enhancements let him keep up with the all those training earlier that morning. Then came Captain Grif…

Yeong sighed to herself in disappointment at the thought of the rather slothful orange man, there wasn't much to say about him other than that he was a pessimist, unmotivated and rather bitchy for lack of a better word.

Rose caught the sigh that left the young Korean girl along with the slight frown on her lips, "Hana?" Her dark brown eyes blinked up to look at her commanding officer.

"Yes?"

"You okay?" She inquired as she finished up her shoes and got off the creaky bench, her second-in-command nodded in response, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just starving." She gave a gentle smile which Rose returned with just a hint of nervousness as she walked off.

"Alright then, come on before everyone gets to the rations first."

Yeong stood there for a bit, staring after the rather short woman before following behind.

Then there's Captain Rose Kent, a woman she had never heard of when Felix had described the Reds and Blues. Neither had she heard of Captain Vane, but here they were. As if they were just added into the picture yet fit like a glove. She was clearly shy, and just as much of a stuttering mess as Simmons, she couldn't even introduce herself alongside the others or look the soldiers in the visor. She was just as lost as the rest but did her best, they all did. She was second behind Caboose in terms of physical endurance and stamina, at the same level as Tucker most definitely.

Yeong smiled slightly as she entered the mess hall, seeing Rose join said newly appointed Captains, _They're weird._

"Hana!" She heard her name being called by an all too familiar voice and turned around to see Valdis walking over with who she assumed was Cerri Vane, she looked quite familiar. With a bright smile she approached them with a light wave.

"There's my favourite girl, we missed you at training this morning. Did you finally have the guts to skip out?" The redhead elbowed the tanned girl in the side lightly with a Cheshire grin before placing an arm over her shoulders, Valdis smiled slightly in return.

"No, actually, I was in a briefing with Kimball and the Captain here."

When the ravenette was addressed, she gives a mock salute and greeted Yeong herself, "Hey, I'm Cerri. But I guess you knew that."

"Yeah, the whole base does," Yeong smiled as she looked directly at Cerri, "Hana. But I guess you didn't know that." A light smirk appeared on the woman's face as she placed a hand on her hip.

"Well now I do, nice to meet you. You part of Tucker's squadron?"

"No, Kents's. I'm one of her Lieutenants actually but…" The thin browed soldier dropped her grin for a contemplating stare as she concentrated on Cerri's face, "I swear I've seen you somewhere before."

"Hm?" Cerri's facial expression had been slightly altered to one of interest, curious as to how the foot soldier recognized her at all.

"Weren't you the one who bum rushed out of the infirmary, in just your underwear?"

"Oh," It immediately clicked in her head as she nodded, "yeah, that was me."

Hana smirked as she pointed leisurely at her higher up, "I knew I recognized you. You had some pretty weird underwear now that I think about it."

"Weird?" She inquired in a flash," How so?" The woman in black was rather intrigued on how her undergarments looked weird to the young woman in front of her, considering it was centuries ahead of her own time she was curious about the differences.

"I dunno, they looked like…" Yeong couldn't find the right word, thinking back to when she saw Cerri speeding down the corridor in just strappy light beige garments, "bandages or something."

"Huh." Was the only sound that left her lips, as if Yeong had just made something click in the Afrrican woman's mind. The look of intrigue left her face and was replaced with a solid one of thought, "Weird...I gotta go, see you guys later."

Valdis smiles, not noticing the sudden change at all. as she walks off with Yeong to join their friends at a table across the room, Cerri went to join her fellow Captain's at their table and plopped down between Rose and Tucker with a heavy sigh.

"So, how'd training go?" She looked up at the others who seemed rather exhausted physically just as she was mentally, Grif was the first to contribute his complaints as he picked at his food like an infant.

"My everything is fucking killing me, the whole training sucked ass." Cerri smirked slightly when she followed his disgusted glare directed to the jumble of vegetables in the corner of his tray, with an aggravated sigh he dropped his fork and exclaimed in frustration, "and what the hell is with the food here! Don't they have any hotdogs or burgers?"

Rose stared at the overweight man unimpressed, "Grif, it's a rebel military. They're lucky they can be supplied with enough food at all."

"Yeah, where the hell do they get all this stuff?" Tucker inquired as he took a bite out of his mashed potatoes, Cerri hadn't even bothered to get a tray yet and stared at the others.

"Well, typically when there isn't hot food prepared standard military rations or MRE's, meaning "Meals Ready to Eat" are given." Simmons didn't eat much of his own rations, having his fork at the side of his own tray as he answered Tucker, the woman right next to said blue soldier nodded in agreement.

"They didn't have much and would have to raid FED bases to get enough rations for the rebels, it's rare for them to ever have hot meals. Even with Felix bringing in the necessities."

"Whatever. All I'm saying, is that there should be more than shitty old carrots…"

Simmons rolled his eyes and glanced at Cerri who had soon begun to stare off into the distance, the passive aggressive expression on her face frightened the cyborg ever so slightly. He tapped Tucker's shoulder to gain his attention and leaned into whisper, "Is something wrong with Cerri?"

"Huh?" His brow raised as he glanced at the dark toned woman next to him, who continued to stare off into the distance. Rose had left her side to go get food for herself.

 _They looked like bandages..._ That simple comment kept circling back as she tried to think back to when she was running out of the infirmary yesterday, she didn't really think about what she was wearing at the time. Considering she had just woken up in unknown territory and the pain of her injury had jolted her awake.

 _Better kickstarter than coffee, that's for sure..._

Cerri sighed as she got up and walked off to get her own tray of rations as well, "I'll be back…" The others watched as she trudged slightly, getting further away and into line for food. Rose walked back with her tray in hand and sat back in her seat.

"What's up with her?" Grif asked in a blunt tone, wasting no time trying to satisfy his sudden curiosity. The blonde was a bit confused by the question, taking a moment to steal a glance at Cerri before looking back to Grif.

"What are you talking about? She's perfectly fine." She paused for a second before correcting herself, "Okay, maybe not completely fine but this is normal behaviour for her. She just needs time to think and have some private time with her own thoughts. Otherwise she'll get seriously crabby."

"Right…"

The rest of their time in the mess hall was simply filled by meaningless chatter, while Cerri stayed silent and thought over the past few days since they had woken up in the middle of that boxed canyon, surrounded by the red and blue soldiers she once believed to be fictional. At first she wished it was a dream when they were being hunted down briefly, but at the bottom of her heart it felt as if she was sent to a safe haven. That is until the true gravity of the situation was revealed, regardless, it felt as though she had escaped something that loomed over her back...latching onto her and sucking her dry like a leech.

But now she was here, stuck in the training grounds with the one and only Merc with A Silver Tongue.

 _Because Merc with A Mouth is reserved exclusively for Deadpool,_ She sighed internally as she teetered on her own two feet, lost in her thoughts again, _I want to watch the movie so badly now…_

She blinked out of her inner conversation when fair skinned digits snapped in front of her eye sight, "Hey, Princess," His tone was one of impatience and annoyance as she finally acknowledged the brunette's presence, "pay attention will you? This training is for you, so if you get your ass kicked on the battlefield, because you didn't pay attention, don't go blaming me." He took a step back and waited for the young women to respond, but she continued to stare at him with a glare of judgement.

"You're scrawnier than your armour leads to believe."

This seemed to hit a weak point in Felix's apparent ego as he began to glower at the woman facing off with him, an aura radiating off of him that he expected would come off as intimidating to her, but to no avail, "Excuse me?"

"What?" She retorted, unsuspecting of his growing annoyance but was aware she hit close to home. She stayed in her relaxed stance, a face void of any emotion with exception of illusionary anger as usual.

"I am not scrawny."

"Dude, you're as skinny as my former female high school classmates. That's saying something."

Felix retained the scowl on his face as he did his best to dismiss her blunt comment and continued on with what was asked of him, "I am going to ignore that for now, and get back to what we're supposed to be doing." He approached her began circling her, looking her over to make a quick assessment. Cerri followed him with her eyes, getting the unspoken note not to move while he did his assessment.

"So, you never done any exercise?" The Captain shook her head as she replied to his quick questions, "Strength training? Endurance, flexibility, balance?" She continued to answer in the negatives causing him to be a bit surprised.

"Maybe I did a bit of yoga but then I got bored of it and moved on,"

"Wow, you weren't kidding…" The mercenary walked a small distance away as he pondered, Cerri had crossed her arm with a roll of her eyes.

"I spent a majority of my time during high school PE hiding in the change rooms, avoided as much physical fitness training as possible, the only thing I would tolerate was physical labour." She paused for a moment, a related thought occurring to her, "Now that I think about it, Rose used to box with her mom after school for fun. She tried to drag me with her once but I got out of it."

"My god, you're almost like the nerdy girls back in high school, and surprisingly not the hot ones."

A thick brow quirked as her lips pursed, "I was in fact one of the nerdy girls, but I didn't realize there were legitimate categories in terms of looks." Felix turned to look at her as she walked forward challengingly, they seemed to be close to the same height. Standing off like they did the day before.

"Then I guess you're one of the honourable nerds, aren't you?" A mischievous smirk appeared on his lips as they stubbornly stayed in their places and stared unblinking, a light smirk slipped onto her own as she shrugged and tilted her head slightly to the side.

"You make it sound so lame when you say it like that, Scout."

"Well, I'd say it's fair game if you're going to attack me like you did."

Her smirk stretched a bit as she took a step forward, "What? You disappointed that I don't find you as attractive as you do yourself, when looking in the mirror?" Felix played along with this little game starting and had placed a hand over his heart with a mockingly hurt expression.

"Ouch, the nerd's got some bite to her barking. That stings, Moxie."

"Moxie?" She scoffed lightly, placing her hands on her hips as she continued to match the intensity of his stare, "Is that my nickname instead of Princess now?"

"Like I said, fair game." A grin finally formed on her face as she gave one last comment.

"Well then you can go fuck yourself, I was definitely one of the hot nerds."

With a wink, Cerri's feet suddenly slipped out from under her and she dropped to the rough earth beneath with a heavy thud. She let out a loud grunt followed by a groan of pain, her back flaring and head pounding slightly but she felt lucky that wind wasn't knocked out of her. The painkillers she had taken earlier had luckily concealed the pain that her side wound would have expressed. Her eyes were closed but she felt Felix lower himself to loom over her in his chilling shadow.

"Right back at you…" He responded in his usual cocky tone that she had forgotten even existed, but this trickery gave her a painful reminder.

"Ugh…I'm still wounded…" A hand reached out to help her up, patiently waiting for her to respond as she opened her eyes ever so slightly to take a look at his now Cheshire grin.

"Now, ready to start your training? Or do you wanna just lie around, Moxie?"

With a huff, she reached out to grab his hand but went the extra mile and grabbed him by the wrist, raising her foot to hook it behind his leg and make him lose his own footing for only a moment. He was about to step back and let go, but she pulled him down with her own weight and speedily knocked him off to the side so that she could roll on top of him.

It all happened so fast that they both shared a moment of shock, Cerri had no idea how the last few seconds even transpired. A flash occurred in her mind, the entire ordeal taking her by surprise and her body had done the rest for her out of pure instinctual defense...At least, that's what she conjured up in her mind on such short notice.

"You don't have to get so feisty, Moxie, I was only joking around." Felix broke the silence with his little quip, causing Cerri to release a sigh and get up.

"You're an ass," She turned her back to him, letting the merc help himself up. She took this time to take deep breaths and make sure the bindings of her side had not gone undone, not even noticing that her heart was pounding rather quickly until she rose from her place on top of Felix. She shook her head ever so gently to dismiss the sudden turned tables and looked back to Felix, "so...are we gonna train or not?"


	11. Changes In Attitude

_Bandages…_

She continued to stare at them with a faint glimmer of wonder mixed with a deep sense of worry, they felt rather comfortable and fit like a glove on her body that she now noticed had a few scars she never had before. Her fingers traced over a few, trying to intuitively calculate how long they had been there. Some felt fresher than others, a few felt as though they had been there for an eternity without her ever noticing.

 _Maybe they were from the fight at the base..._ She tried to reason with her wavering heart that pounded slightly with every passing second, _Maybe it was because of training,_ She persisted as her deep brown eyes glanced down at the new addition to her collection of marks, that decorated her form. A long scar darker than her own skin tone that expanded, similar to a splatter shot. It made her formerly vacant stare turn into a scowl, before returning to the primary holder of her attention in the mirror, her underwear.

These...undergarments, the top wrapped around her chest tightly to stay in place and had no straps whatsoever. It was incredibly odd, they were definitely not the same fabric as regular underwear either. She had noticed the same type on Rose and asked her about it, but the blonde simply shrugged it off before leaving for morning training early.

"I don't think it's that big of a deal, besides, we have extra underwear and stuff in the drawers if it bothers you so much."

With a deep sigh, she ran a hand through her hair, or at the very least tried. It was back to it's natural state now; back to the large black kinky curls they used to be before Cerri ironed them down. They spread outward and even reached just past her shoulders, seemingly changing the appearance the Captain once gave off. It was more...revealing or rather intimate now.

 _They've seriously grown._

A smile reached her lips for a split second before disappearing when the memories of everyone's reaction to her hair came to pass, most were surprised, others felt the need to touch it which was weird and she did not particularly like that. However, overall it felt different, like her herself now.

 _But..._ Her mind zeroed in once again on the small change, _How could it have grown so fast…?_ Her eyes stayed fixed on the reflection of herself, trying her very best to remember. But the day when that powder blue haired girl- Diamond Bear had stolen them away, seemed like a fizzled out memory. Her head started to ache as other thoughts tried to cram in that didn't completely feel like her own, forcing their way through like a battering ram.

She groaned softly, squeezing her eyes closed tightly and leaning against the mirror. Deep inhalations and exhalations in an attempt to calm the havoc that was beginning to wreak in her brain, a rough knock on the door forced her to settle her groaning and she stumbled over to the desk.

"Cerri!" Tucker called from the other side, Cerri snatched her painkillers that were left over and hastily took the top off, "You ready yet? We gotta go!"

"Y-Yeah! I'll be out in a minute!" Her hands were shaking slightly as she poured out a few capsules, two extra had accidentally slipped out making it four but she didn't care. A few extra than what was prescribed wouldn't hurt her. She quickly shoved them in her mouth and took a huge gulp of the lukewarm water she left on her desk from the night before, then grabbed one of the many elastic hair ties that were given to her so she could tie her hair up into a ponytail. It was the third one she'd used, the last two breaking due to the sheer volume of her hair and the elastic's lack in strength.

With a deep breath, she went over to the dresser and grabbed her tank and sweats. She slipped them on in a rush before grabbing her boots and shoving them on, tying them up in sloppy knots, once she finished she threw the door open and ran out to catch up with the others after closing said door behind her.

"Hey, sorry." She slowed her pace when she was at Tucker's side, "My hair tie broke again." He took a good look at her, immediately pointed at her face with the faint purse of his lips.

"Dude, you look like shit." He pointed out bluntly which made Cerri frown slightly, "Did you even sleep last night?"

She shook her head briefly and looked ahead with a sigh, "Nope. Not a wink…"

"Damn…"

"Yeah," She took a quick glance at Tucker as they continued onward, "but thanks for the talk last night. I appreciate it." The man with dreads grinned and patted her back.

"No problem, babe."

"Don't call me that."

The two of them entered the large training grounds where all of their subordinates waited patiently, chatting amongst one another. Rose was at the front of the group with Simmons, Caboose and Grif already. They spoke with each other briefly until the blonde haired man next to Rose spotted Cerri and Tucker approaching them.

"Morning!"

The short blonde turned and smiled slightly at both, "Morning guys, I was worried you'd be late."

"What are we even doing today?" Grif cut in, a grouchy expression plastered onto his face like every other morning, "Same as usual?"

"Of course, it's the same as usual," Simmons retorted, keeping his arms crossed as he looked at his team mate, "we need to keep up the routine otherwise everything will be chaotic."

"Simmons, it's war." Cerri let out a huge yawn that she tried to cover with her hand, but failed. "Everything is already chaotic." Rose frowned when she noticed the bags under Cerri's eyes.

"Cerri, when was the last time you got some sleep?"

The ravenette paused for a moment, trying to remember when exactly she was actually able to get some shut eye, "Um...I think a couple hours maybe...two or three days ago?"

Her jaw dropped as she stared at her closest friend wide eyed, " Are you kidding? Why didn't you say anything!" Said friend heaved a sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Because, Rose, I have work I need to do." She gestured to their fellow Commanding Officers, "We all do. I can't just let lack of sleep get in the way, I've been getting a couple hours in when I can so I'll be fine."

Before Rose could continue the argument, it was short lived when Felix walked over to them to interrupt their conversations, "Everyone's here, so we better get started. We've all got a schedule to keep."

"Then if you'll excuse me." With a quick stretch, the man dressed in orange turned away and began to make his way to his designated resting spot. However, neither Rose nor Cerri would allow it and both grabbed him by the fabric of his shirt, "Wah-Hey!" He tried to get away, using all of his strength-which wasn't that much-and attempted to wriggle out of his shirt so he could get away. Cerri let go and went around to Grif's front, shoving him back with no patience to spare on his ridiculous attempts of escape.

"Not a fucking chance, lemon loaf." Her index finger began to jab into his chest as she spoke in a strict tone, "If I have to suffer through this, so do you." Before Grif could retort with any sort of complaint, the curly haired Captain directed her attention to the troops before them.

"Alright everyone, we're starting with morning laps!" All of them began with a light jog, going clockwise around the entire area from their point of view, "fifteen around the entire room!"

They all replied with a quick 'Yes, Ma'am' and continued on, Grif exclaimed loudly in protest, "You've gotta be fucking kidding me!"

"Nope!" Cerri shoved Grif ahead with the others following close behind, and started running. Rose sighed, already feeling exhausted and she hadn't even started running. Caboose could practically feel this sudden loss of energy and immediately wrapped his arms around her waist, she gasped when she was lifted up in the air and over the blue soldier's broad soldier.

"Caboose!"

"It's running time! Then nap time afterwards, right?" He smiled brightly at the golden haired girl, whose face was turning bright red, hearing some of her soldiers laughing in the distance.

"S-Sure, but you have to put me down so I can run too-!" She let out a soft yelp when Caboose had began running after everyone whom had already started their run, she tried wriggling out of his grip but her efforts were in vain. Tucker gave a slight pout as he looked back at the pair.

"Hey! No fair! I called dibs on her!"

Cerri watched as Caboose ran ahead with Rose as she protested loudly, her face was blank and her mind soon traveled elsewhere. She couldn't feel the splitting headache anymore, which was good. Great even, if it weren't for some other problems that were slowly rising.

 _No progress..._ She admitted to herself, _Quite the opposite…_

It's been three weeks since they had settled into the New Republic's armed forces, Cerri was appointed as a new tactician to the army as well as a new Captain. The same rank was appointed to the Reds and Blues, including Rose. There were only a few changes to the daily routine of everyone; morning training for all the troops that didn't have any other duties between 06:00-08:00, breakfast rations or if they were lucky, actual hot breakfast, then everyone went off to their assigned duties. The squadrons that were under Tucker and the other's command would undergo more specific training, Cerri would be in her assigned office looking over past records and formulating attack strategies that she would go over with her colleagues, or she would be included in the squad's training.

Then there were the occasional private sessions with Felix that both Cerri and Rose would have, the blonde seemed to catch onto the Merc's training much faster than her partner. However, Cerri's recent case of insomnia would be a direct cause of her lacking in concentration and effort. She hoped that no one would notice, but they did, practically everyone noticed the slight changes. No one dared say a word about it within her presence, otherwise they'd suffer either being barked at or glared at even harsher than before.

"Hey." She continued to jog, caught up in her thoughts once again while Felix kept the same pace as her. "Moxie." Her almost pitch black eyes stayed glued ahead of her, not realizing that he was calling her. With a frown, he nudged her side a bit too harshly and she practically jumped out of her skin.

"Jesus, what!" She replied aggravated as she stopped her jog, taking deep breaths since he had startled her on top of the prolonged running. He stopped running as well, raising his hand gently in defense.

"Hey, don't go snapping at me. I didn't do anything to you." He snapped back to the same degree, she frowned deeply and turned to face him. All the other troops behind them avoided them and ran around.

"What is it, Felix?" His brow quirked, taking in everything she did and said. She would always take an opportunity to annoy him with that ridiculous nickname she had assigned him, he had placed his hands on his hips and gave her a stern look.

"The hell is going on with you?"

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, giving off an air of annoyance and attitude which he did not take kindly to, "I'm fine. Since when were you concerned about anything other than your next pay?"

"I started caring when it started affecting everyone else and your training."

Her brows knitted together as her glare worsened, "My problems are my business, just stick to your own damn job and keep your fucking nose out of it." She went to shove him but he grabbed her wrist and kept her in place, staring her down.

"Well, they're my problem now too. So get a grip…" A scowl slowly formed on Cerri's face as she pulled away and shoved past him, walking away and heading out, Felix stared after her.

"Vane!"

Rose and Caboose had both watched Cerri leave, she more than concerned than him. They both shared a look of worry before continuing on with their run, he had let the young woman down after a while and they ran side by side, talking nonsense to distract themselves from what had just happened.

No one saw Cerri for the rest of the day, she had disappeared from the locker room before any of the girls got there after training but she was most definitely there. Her locker was left open with her armour inside, untouched, only a used towel and her now sweaty clothes from training left in the laundry bin. However, even with this slight disruption to their daily routine, everything continued on as it should.

Rose hadn't returned to her quarters like everyone else at the end of the day, she had decided to take the time to get some fresh air and have some private time. She sat near an opening to the cave that was rather narrow and unnoticed on the outside, it was a good place for her to have her peace of mind, especially since things have gotten more stressful as of late.

 _We're close..._ She kept telling herself as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, the air was much fresher here than what she could remember about Earth, _We're so close to getting to them...and then one step closer to home._ A frown appeared on her face for a split second at the thought of home, she hadn't thought about it as much as before. She couldn't bring herself to, because she knew she'd start weeping if she put herself through that.

It hurt to think about what could be happening back home right about now; the place she had made her new home was abandoned, cold and empty overtime. The landlord would have checked for rent by now and realized Rose hadn't been there for a long time, the police would be called and reports would be filed for both her and Cerri. Then her family...oh lord, she could just imagine the devastated looks on all their faces. Her poor mother pouring a broken heart out in tears along with her father, her brother and sisters mourning for days not knowing if she was still out there or far from living.

A tear rolled down Rose's cheek that she let fall, trying to hold back oncoming tears. Her body started shaking slightly as she began to cry silently, the previously concealed fears making themselves known.

"Rosey?" She quickly turned her head to see Caboose standing there, a worried expression on his face as he walked up to her.

"O-Oh, hey Caboose," With a sniffle, she tried to wipe away the salty tears that kept coming, "What are you doing here? I...I-I thought you went to sleep." He sat down across from her, the distance between them was rather short considering the width of the opening.

"I had nap time earlier, I'm not tired. You're sad though, why are you crying?" He leaned in closer, with a frown, "Did you eat the onions thinking they were apples too?" Rose blinked a few times, lowering her hand from her face confused.

"Wait, when did you eat the onions in the kitchen…?"

"Oh um, well, I uh, I was looking for food for nap time and I saw the onions and…" The baby faced blonde took a sharp breath in, "they weren't apples."

His team mate stared at him for a while before a small smile made it's way to her lips, tiny giggles mixed with a sniffle or two as she wiped the remaining few tears off her face.

"You shouldn't have gone into the kitchen without permission." She scolded him with a light hearted smile, to which he responded with a pout and crossed his arms.

"But I want to have food-nap time," An idea popped into his head as he gasped and took Rose's hands into his, this time she didn't react to the sudden gesture and focused on his outburst of excitement, "we can have food-nap time together!"

She couldn't help but let out a gentle laugh and nodded, "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Just, no onions okay?" The fair skinned man nodded in delight, and looked out the narrow entrance from where they sat. A light breeze found its way in from the growing darkness outside, Rose noticed his sudden loss of happiness.

"What is it?" She asked to get his attention back. But he merely continued to look outside, with a far away stare.

"I wonder what Agent Washington is doing right now…" Her eyes widened slightly but stayed silent, not completely sure how to answer that, "maybe when we find them. We can food-nap time with him. And Freckles too!" He smiled once again as brightly as before, like that faint moment of melancholy never occurred. She hesitantly went in for a hug, and he looked at her surprised but happy at the show of affection. He hugged back nonetheless.

"We'll find them soon, Caboose...then we can all have food-nap time."

"Okay!" The tone of his voice suddenly went low, in a serious voice, "But not Tucker, he's really stupid." Rose let go rather quickly at that comment, now it was her turn to pout, "Caboose, you can't just exclude him because of that. It's only fair that you include him as well."

"Fine…But he can't have my food."

Rose smiled and petted his hair, he couldn't help but grin at the sweet woman in front of him. Her smile soon turned a tad bittersweet as she sat with Caboose.

"But yeah...I miss them too."


	12. Last Resort

She lay in her bed staring up at the ceiling with empty eyes, trying to keep her mind void of thoughts, but it was more difficult to do so when her phone died a while back. Her last resort to relaxation was gone once the screen had blacked out forever, there was no conduit for her stress. No escape route, no shortcuts, she was alone again. Just her and her recurring thoughts that brought wave after wave of pain and despair, as if it were accumulating in the back of her head just waiting to be opened up like a safe filled with gold and jewels. However, in this case, she wanted nothing more than to throw it all in an incinerator and watch it burn. Let the embers consume her and turn her to ash on the ground.

She turned on her side to check if Rose was asleep, of course she was, only a few minutes ago had she returned from her little chat with Caboose with a gentle smile on her lips and an optimistic outlook on tomorrow. She had shut the lights and hopped into bed, cuddling up in her sheets and falling deep into her realm of sweet dreams. Leaving Cerri to fend for herself when she needed her friend most, but the curly haired woman was too stubborn to ask for help. Too closed off from the rest of the world to open up, no matter how much she wanted to or how hard she tried.

There was only one other option.

Cerri gently rose from her bed and slipped out from underneath the sheets, she reached underneath her bed and snatched her boots. Putting them on and lacing them up before grabbing her sweater and sneaking out of the room without waking the sleeping Captain, leaving the private quarters all together and went off for a quick jog. But she didn't tie her hair up, she left it as is to get a feel for the wind rushing through to cool her.

She ran as far as her legs could carry her, passing over the bridge and heading towards the entrance to the lake. Her breathing was kept in moderation as she soon slowed herself when she was growing near, she could hear the gentle movement of the water in the distance and it already began to calm her mind. She kept her feet as silent as possible as she stopped near the edge and plopped down on the cold metal, her eyes closed for a moment as she took a breath. It helped, even though the radioactive algae contributed to changing the smell. It was the closest she could get to the sounds of the sea, or to the images of fluorescent coral reefs staring up at her from underneath the surface of the lagoona blue.

Deep breaths, her shoulders gradually becoming less tense with every passing second. She could feel her eyes begin to burn, desperate to release oncoming tears held back since she arrived to this rebel compound. Her heart becoming as heavy as the weight on her mind, making her body shake under the pressure and her head hung low. Those once deep breaths were held back along with the cry turned whimper, her fists balling up and letting her nails dig into her palms.

She could've avoided this...this moment of weakness that would drag her into the abyss and drown her, but deep down she knew it was inevitable.

"Shouldn't you be getting some shut eye, Moxie?" Her breath hitched slightly and she gritted her teeth, trying to force the shaking down and kept her back facing him. Cerri lifted her head up to the sky and took a deep breath, taking those few precious seconds as he approached her and sat next to her to force the tears back into the ducts and keep her emotions from overflowing and cracking through the dam.

"Well if you're up this late then you must have been flirting with the night nurses again…" She countered as she bravely looked in his direction, his usual smirk was absent and replaced by that scrutinizing glare. There was a moment of silence between them that she was expecting to fill with a simple comment, a joke, gloating, a half-assed remark drench in his potent ego, anything?

But no, he continued with his stare, like he was invading the privacy of her mind as he looked her directly in the eyes. She wouldn't look away though, he would be able to tell easily what was actually going on, the second she broke eye contact the whole situation would be apparent to him.

"Or are you trying to get your fill of screen time somewhere else…?" She continued on with her insult, trying to fill the void where his voice should be. It was unnerving that he wasn't responding to her, no matter how much he hated it she would always get the better of him and would answer. It was different this time, something in the back of her head was screaming for her to leave. They knew what was coming, Cerri knew as well but she was too curious. She was over-confident and ignorant, believing that she could face whatever it was with a heart and mind of steel.

He opened his mouth to speak, "Why the hell are you here?" Her eyes widened slightly, her challenging look changed drastically to one of confusion. He broke off eye contact first and looked at the lake surface, she couldn't help but follow his gaze.

"What?" She didn't understand what he was asking, her mind trying to find a solution to his behaviour.

"You know, you've been criticizing me this whole time. Acting like you know me," The brunette's eyes pierced hers again, and her mouth drilled shut once more, "but you really don't." Felix had a frown on his face. Her heart began pounding, the connection to her mind starting to weaken as she tried to think of what to say to him. Her hands shook slightly as she turned away from him and looked ahead at the glowing algae.

 _Something bad's going to happen,_ She kept telling herself, her body refused to move as she bit her lip, _something very very bad._

"This is a war. People die everyday and more will keep dying, you're worried about your friends but it's not just that anymore. You care about this whole thing about as much I do. Three weeks ago you said you weren't going to fight for the rebels, yet here you are. Making plans and putting together strategies that are helping win some battles, but at the same time you're a million miles away from the crossfire." He continued to stare at her even though her eyes were elsewhere, trying to think of a way out of this, "...why are you here?"

Cerri felt herself breaking down as she thought about it, why? She's alone here in this battlefield and trying to keep from falling apart, at first it was all a game to test the waters until the bullets started flying. She thought nothing of it, it was all just a game for her to play. It was all a quick adrenaline rush she thought would last forever, until that moment came.

The shock took her over when she felt her flesh being pierced by the explosive round fired, her entire body toppling to the ground as she tried to regain herself. Trying to register what had just happened and why her side was soaked in crimson red, why Wash was screaming for her and at her side in seconds only to be shot down as well, her hand reached out for him but failed her. Her heart pounding out of her chest as she rose from the ground and lifted her firearm, ignoring the pain and aiming at her enemy. Eyes clouded with rage that washed over her fear.

"Cerri?"

Her entire body began to shake furiously as tears began to spill out of her eyes like a waterfall, everything hurt, the memories that accompanied every scar on her body seemed to bring along with it the pain she experienced. It was too much, she couldn't remember it all. But the biggest scar on her side administered the most agony to her entire system.

"Hey, Cerri." Felix tried to get her to speak through her silent cries, placing a hand on her shoulder and attempted in turning her in his direction so he could see her face. Her hands covered her eyes, her formed hunched over in the fetal position, but it didn't conceal the suffering to herself.

She wasn't alone anymore, he was sitting there with her and trying to get inside, and that's what was so terrifying to her in this moment.

 _Don't let him,_ She wiped the tears away and looked away from him, weakly pushing away but her heart begged her to disobey her brain, _Please, don't let him in…_

"I don't know…" She replied to his question, he simply continued on trying to comfort her, "I don't know why, a-all I know is that-"

 _You have to survive..._ She remembered it all so clearly, when the realization hit her that the fun was over and the real world came knocking at her front door. The bodies dropping, blood spilled on the ground, and every time she pulled the trigger, the recoil that went right through her. It was all a rush, every second longer that she could feel the blood coursing through her veins and her heart still beating. Her mind still buzzing along with the ringing in her ears.

"I-I have to fight…" She wiped the last of her tears away as her body started calm itself, he had removed his hand, "I can't stop fighting, or the next second I might be dead on the ground...I need to survive." She sniffled and looked at the man next to her who had grown silent, he looked rather stunned by her answer. Not expecting her to react in such a way, she herself realized that there was something to him. The expression on his face, it was much more genuine...like a mask that was starting to peel away like bark on a rotting tree. But it changed, it didn't even take him long to recollect himself and continue with their little staring contest.

"Well…" Nothing else came out of his mouth, formulating the right words. But his late response made Cerri scoff slightly and uncurl from her initial position, she wiped her face off so the remaining tears stains and oncoming snot would be dealt with, she felt rather ridiculous now that she had practically spilled her heart out to this man she couldn't really say she trusted. But it was only natural considering what he was.

"So, what about you...?" She asked, the vulnerability in her voice quickly fading as her walls began to slowly build back up, "Why did you decide to get wrapped up in this whole civil war crap? Why not bail when you had the chance?" Her attention went back to the lake, staring at the surface like a mirror. Felix seemed to relax as well, leaning back a bit with one arm as support. He let out a sigh and stared up at the opening above.

"Well, aside from the obvious pay out, let's just say I've a got score to settle."

"With who?" The woman asked curiously, trying to get a read on him, "The FEDs?" He laughed a bit, she concluded her guess was way off. Remembering who was sitting next to her and sighed, rolling her eyes.

" _Fuck no!_ If I had any real beef with the FEDs I would have blown them all to holy hell with as many explosives as I could get my hands on, send it straight to the capital all wrapped up with a bright orange bow on top."

Cerri couldn't help but snort, a ghost of a smile on her lips, "I find that a huge waste of perfectly good wrapping paper."

He shrugged indifferent, a smirk on his face seeing that his little joke had a positive effect on the wild haired Captain next to him, "Eh, as long as it doesn't get sent back. It ain't my problem." He looked ahead, getting back to the matter at hand, his smirk turning back into a frown.

"We knew each other back during the Great War...Locus and I." He said the green and grey soldier's name with a hint of malice, Cerri threw up her eyebrows a bit but continued on listening, "we hated each other since we were dumped in the same squadron. He was a sick son of a bitch who didn't even hesitate in pulling the trigger, like fucking machine…but, we helped each other once."

Her eyes stayed locked onto his face, catching it frame by frame like a camera, "We were the only two left, guns blazing everywhere and I was sure we were gonna die. But we pulled through and survived…"

"Then why are you here? I don't get it…" She found herself inching closer to him, listening intently to the tale being told to her. He noticed this as well and did the same, both engaged in this story.

"Like I said, we hate each other's guts but I respect him a bit. Not a lot. I've always wanted to beat his useless skull in, just to prove to him that I'm stronger than him, that I'd outlast him...and I'm not leaving the fight until I see him dead on the ground."

"So…" Cerri ran through the whole explanation in her head, trying to understand, "you're just gonna end this fight, so you can kill Locus?"

Felix shrugged, biting the inside of his cheek before speaking again, "What can I say? I like a challenge, he could've easily turned down this fight when they offered. But he took it cuz he knew I would be up against him."

"It's just a big game of tag to the two of you…" He gave one final nod, satisfied with what he's told her. But the look on her face said something else entirely. With a shake of her head she got up off the ground, he looked up at her.

"You are such a fucking liar." She turned to walk away but he grabbed her by the wrist, making her look back down at with a glare. He was confused.

"What the hell are you talking about?" He scoffed, thinking her sudden change in attitude was a joke, "What? Is my story not good enough for you?" Felix let Cerri slip away from his grasp as she stood there staring down into his eyes, unimpressed. He in turn felt rather offended by this woman's accusation, his face expressing that she had hit him hard.

"You are a complete waste of time, Felix. You really expect me to believe that the only reason you're sticking around is because of _Locus_?" She knelt down in front of him, beginning to see through the expression of perplexity he painted on his own face. Her brow raised, waiting for him to answer but he took too long, "You've had numerous chances to take him down and you had the resources available to do so, I've seen your records Felix. I know how long you've been in this fight, and there is no way that you of all people would wait _years_ to kill a man you claim to hate with all your heart."

"Hey." He snapped, grabbing her again and pulling her down to his level, "You're the one who asked. I don't need you to justify my reasons for being here!" She roughly pulled back, falling on her behind but stayed where she was, holding her arm and glaring at the merc slightly hurt.

"Well I didn't ask for you to show up and pretend like you give a rat's ass about how I'm feeling," Her tone was as cold as ice, hoping to cut through the gun-for-hire's tough exterior. She wanted to conceal her pain so badly but he could see it all, that shining light in her eyes that was incredibly similar to his own. It caused a slight shiver to run down his back as he leaned in, having both arms trap her to the ground and lock lips with hers.

 _What are you doing?_

Cerri's eyes widened at the sudden change, being taken by surprise by this attack on her lips but nonetheless returned it, compelled to go on with this against her better judgement. He didn't hold anything back, enjoying her slight awkwardness as she placed her hands on his shoulders to hold herself up, squeezing when he bit down on her lower lip and started to move away. But she moved her hands up to his neck and anchored him back, he gripped her hips and roughly pulled her closer to him so their hips pressed against each other. She lay on the ground with her brain trying to keep up with it all, having to separate from him to take a quick breath and register where they were and what was going on.

"What are you doing?" Her voice was stuck in a sultry tone but slight hesitation as she looked up at him, his sharp brown eyes stuck to hers with his expression holding a deviant undertone she barely caught, attacking her neck and forcing her hold in an incoming moan. She ran a hand through his slicked back locks and pulled on them gently.

 _But you can't...you're stressed but, you can't..._

"I told you," Once he reached her collarbone, he left love bites in his wake as his hands slipped underneath her shirt and felt up her sides. He felt her tremble slightly, she was unsure of how far this would go or if she even wanted this to go on any further. His smirk widened slightly at this fact, "you act like you know me. But you really don't." She bit down on her own lip when she felt his soft ones trail up her throat, feeling his breath on her rough skin made her heart stop abruptly.

 _Don't let him in…!_

His arms slipped up and wrapping around her waist tightly to pull her up off the ground to hold her tightly against him, he could feel her heartbeat with his chest pressed against hers. She couldn't tell if his own heart was at the same pace, it sure felt like it. Her arms left his neck when they kissed again, holding them against his torso to try and keep at least a sliver of distance between them. She couldn't help but feel wrong about this, the same feeling from when she first met him back in the jungle canyon. However, she was quick to dismiss this inkling the best she could and go on.

She needed this, all of it. She was convinced she needed this to let go of all her suffering even if it was just for a few minutes...right?

 _Do I really...?_

In the midst of their hasty actions that took them both over, an aching pain started in the back of her head, making Cerri wince and groan slightly in pain. She pushed Felix away gently and turned her head slightly, the pain only getting worse.

"Hey," His kisses translated across to her jawline, slowly beginning to recede, "what is it?" He stopped what he was doing and watched the woman in his arms start to squirm, the merc loosened his grip and rose a hand to brush the curly strands of hair out of her face, "What's wrong?" He asked urgently, seeing the expression of agony on her features.

 _He'll lie. He'll trick you._ The fabric of his shirt bunched up in her fists as she tried to suppress the intense migraine, the back of his hand brushed against her cheek to try and get her eyes to return to his own. This only caused a shot of pain to run through her head and make her cry out, _He'll hurt you!_

Felix was shoved off in seconds, his back hitting the ground with a thud. Her breathing was heavy as she scrambled to her feet and tugged on her sweater in a rush, wrapping it around herself and backing away from the gunman. Her chest hurt along with her brain, both screaming at her to turn away and leave. But he sat back up, groaning and rubbing the back of his head.

"Shit…" His head snapped up to glare at Cerri only to see the burning hate behind her wavering caffeine brown irises.

"I told you not to lie to me…" There was a faint crack in her voice as she took a step back, he got up off the ground to approach her but she continued on retreating.

"No...I didn't-"

"Do not lie to me!" She barked at him ferociously, back on the defensive and walls completely built back up. Leaving only the image of her scowl with faint tear stains on her cheeks, she sharply turned away from him and walked off, "Now go and do your job, Scout…"

"Cerri!"

She only furthered herself from him as quickly as she possibly could, but never brought herself to break into a sprint and continued on with her walking pace. She took a deep breath in, closing her eyes and letting the excess oxygen expel from her respiratory system. Letting her heartbeat slow down the farther she got away from the lake, the buzz in her brain faded at the same rate however scolded her nonetheless. They knew what was coming, Cerri knew as well but she was too curious. She was over-confident and ignorant, believing that she could face whatever it was with a heart and mind of steel. How utterly wrong she was when the moment finally came to pass.

She couldn't show weakness again, not to him or anyone else in this war if she was going to hold her own and survive.


	13. Everything Comes With A Price

Today is the day.

They hopped off the jeep, double checking that their rifles were locked and loaded just in case they spotted an enemy along the way. Rose made sure that she had spare ammo on her, before looking over to Yeong, "You clear?"

Her lieutenant nodded, "Clear." She cocked her gun and went over to Felix who was already going on ahead to make sure the path was clear, the CO looked over to Tucker, Palomo and the other privates with them; Cunningham and Rogers, if she remembered correctly. They hadn't adorned Tucker's signature colour unlike his newly appointed lieutenant, the same style was given to Rose's two lieutenants Yeong and Valdis, even though only one was on the field on a regular basis.

They all looked up and nodded in unison, "Clear."

Rose started heading down the path to Yeong and Felix, keeping to the mercenary's left while Tucker had taken her lieutenant's place at his right, This formation was repeated with Yeong, who had moved back to be centered behind them, followed by Cunningham and Rogers, with Palomo behind them all to keep their asses safe.

"We're nearing the FED's outpost," Felix announced over the com as they all slowly approached a narrow cave entrance, "remember what we discussed." The squad fell into a straight line and slipped through the entrance before getting back into their respective positions once inside. Yeong glanced around the dark cave briefly, seeing light down the way they were heading.

"Any friendly notes to give before we get there?" She asked in a bit of a wavering tone, tapping the side of her rifle as they continued onward.

"Nothing special, it's a standard base. Just don't do anything stupid."

"R-Right, nothing stupid. Got it." Palomo replied in a rather anxious manner, not as prepared for this mission as the others.

Rose sighed softly and glanced back at their four subordinates all grouped up behind them, "Just keep calm, okay? We'll slip in and out with everything we need…"

"Bow chicka bow wow."

The blonde glared slightly at her teammate, cheeks dusting over pink briefly, "Tucker, this is not the time."

"Oh please," She could practically hear that whisper of a smirk from underneath his helmet through the radio, "with me it's always the time." She sighed as they got closer to the opening, stopping when Felix crouched down and pulled out his sniper.

"Kent. Flare."

Rose nodded and set her weapon down to pull out the flare she had on hand, tugging off the top and letting the bright red sparks fly. The blonde quickly set it down near them so their area could be brightened up a bit more, she glanced back at the others who stood behind them patiently, not uttering a single word. She returned her attention to Felix who was already looking through his scope and checking out the security circling the perimeter.

 _We're close..._ She licked her lips, staring at the main component of the compound just a few miles away from them. Inside was hopefully everything they needed to uncover where the FEDs were keeping Washington and the others, and from there, just one step closer to getting back home.

...Home. It won't really be the same as before. Rose knew that, however she couldn't help but hold onto that thin string of hope like a lifeline. They'd make it back, both her and Cerri, taking the first ride back to Earth so they could build their lives back up from scratch.

A frown found its way to her lips as she continued to think about it, with every passing second the thought of returning to her home planet didn't seem as exciting as it used to. Over the past few weeks she had begun to think about it less and less, investing more of her time into the people of Chorus rather than herself and her own future that she had previously planned. Not like she had much of a choice on the matter. But she had slowly grown accustom to her life, albeit at times stressful, on this colony planet inhabited by people she had come to trust overtime.

On the other hand, Cerri was obviously not taking a liking to the situation in its entirety. Her partner had expressed on countless occasions her distaste for this war and being trapped on Chorus, not that she hated the people. On the contrary, she cared for them, it was that she was under so much pressure that she wasn't prepared for and their subordinates were at times on the receiving end of the monotone tactician's snappy attitude.

Both of their reactions were the exact opposite of what everyone was expecting; while Rose would have times where she would need to retreat and sort everything out, she would stay relatively calm and kept a positive attitude. On the flip side, Cerri was always on the brink of a break down. Shutting everyone out when it came to her accumulated stress that built up like a water balloon just waiting to burst. It had somehow become drastically worse, from what Rose had seen at the briefing this morning. She'd have to ask about that later…

"Hey, Felix, "Her focus was brought back to reality and she glanced at Tucker who seemed to have his visor glued to the weapon in the mercenary's hands, "You think I could have a turn with that sniper rifle?" He asked in a hopeful tone, holding back his desire to snatch it away and take a peek through the scope himself.

However, to his dismay, Felix was quick to cut down the request, "Absolutely not." The aqua soldier grunted in displeasure, not quite surprised that he was denied for the billionth time in his military career. Rose rolled her eyes at Tucker's childishness and continued on looking outside, waiting for a status report.

"Uh.." Palomo spoke up a bit hesitant, his close teammates looked at him. Yeong raising an eyebrow, curious as to what her awkward friend would utter this time, "sometimes I.. like to take my hands and cup them around my eyes. Like little hand binoculars." Everyone heard the sound of armour smacking a visor and looked to the white and tan soldier who facepalmed.

"Shut the fuck up Palomo."

Rose glared at Tucker again, "Tucker, quit it. This isn't the time." Her Co-Captain in turn glared back at a stronger intensity and got up from his crouching position on the ground, Felix had done the same and fell back further into the cave with the others following suit. They brought the flare inside for some illumination and regrouped.

"It doesn't look good, guys." He said a matter-of-factly, looking at all of the soldiers on the team. Few of which looked a bit anxious, "They've really beefed up their security."

"Why? What's goin' on?" Rogers asked, paying close attention to the information being given. Rose stood next to Tucker, who was already in a not so great mood.

"Well," The orange and grey hued man began, briefly going over what he had observed at the outpost, "it could be that someone from up top is coming to visit." He paused for a moment, biting his lower lip, "Ooor it could be a response to the weapons I stole from this place a few weeks ago."

The white coloured Captain gave a look of disbelief, how could he have not spared them that detail beforehand? Both Yeong and Tucker gave a stern and unimpressed glare as the aqua man remarked sarcastically with an eye roll, "Geez, I wonder which one it is."

"Uughh...I think it's pretty obvious that it's the weapons…"

The russet red haired girl sighed heavily and looked over at her fellow lieutenant, "Palomo, just stop…"

"Yeong." Rose called in a gentle yet strict tone to get her attention, before returning her eyes to Felix, "Is gathering intel still an option in this case?"

"Afraid not, which is why we're going with plan B. We plant C4, we leave and then we blow this outpost to hell."

"What!?" Tucker exclaimed, making his team mate jump slightly at the nearly eardrum piercing pitch. All their eyes went to him, however the mercenary mistook this sudden outburst as underlying fear.

"It's a standard hit and run. I've done it a million times, we'll be fine." He tried to reassure Tucker but it seemed to have quite opposite effect, further aggravating his childish behaviour.

"Uh, actually no we will not be fine." The dark skinned man stepped forward boldly, "I thought we came here to gather intelligence? That's gonna be pretty fucking difficult when their computer system is in about forty thousand pieces!" Felix gave a quick sigh, annoyed by Tucker's insistence on retrieving the intel they oh so desperately needed.

"Okay, I understand you wanna save your friends. I do. Really. But data retrieval is no longer an option. Once we find out where they're holding Wash and the others, the New Republic will do everything they can to save them." He paused on his explanation with a drawn out breath, giving off a sympathetic tone, "But today isn't that day."

The Captain averted his deep brown eyes, a frustrated expression painted on his features as he gripped his weapon tightly. Gruffly replying, "Yeah, whatever…" Rose glanced at him rather worried before returning her attention to their informant once more, he had taken out what looked like a component for a suit.

"Now, we've only got one active camo unit. Rose, you should be fine without it so Tucker, that goes to you. It's a little damaged, so try not to run it constantly. Only when you need to disappear. Got it?"

"Got it." Both higher ups replied, he handed the unit to Tucker who looked at it with a blank stare behind his warm coloured visor.

"As for the rest of you, that's up to your Captains…"

Tucker blinked in realization as they all looked at him, Rose smiled slightly when she heard him agree, "Ooooh. Right!" He then whips out his sword, an idea already stemming from his brain as he looked around to find something in particular.

"So," Yeong began as she watched him, her curiosity just as strong as everyone else's, "what's the plan Captain?"

"You guys just stay hidden and I'll handle it, when the FEDs showed up. We knock them out!" He walked over to what looked like a reinforced cable and cut through it. His partner watched him a bit wary.

"Uh, Tucker? You sure that that'll work?"

"Don't worry, babe, I got this."

Her fair skinned cheeks flushed for a moment as they all hid against the stone walls, "Please stop calling me that…"

"Do you really think this is gonna work?" Rogers asked as he stayed glued against the barren rock, listening closely for any movement coming near. Rose glanced over at the Private, shrugging slightly.

"Maybe…?"

Right on cue, a warthog had pulled up just near the entrance of the cave. Two FEDs that had dark blue accents as opposed to standard green entered and walked right up to the cut cable, both looking down at it to examine the damage.

"Ah, here's the problem. The rats must have chewed through the wire."

"That is a military grade reinforced power cable. What kind of rats are you talkin' about?"

Rose glanced at Rogers, nudging her head towards the one closest to them while Tucker had done the same with Cunningham.

"...Space rats?"

"...Yeah I could see that."

Both moved from their hiding places at lightning speed, bashing the but of their rifles in the heads of the soldiers, knocking them out. Everyone waited a few moments to make sure they were completely unconscious before getting out of their positions.

"I _cannot_ believe that actually worked." Yeong commented, Tucker was smirking underneath his helmet and it widened into a grin.

"Perfect! Now, Cunningham and Rogers, time for a little costume change."

The two Privates glanced at each other for a moment then their eyes trailed over to Rose for final confirmation, no one was exactly sure what their CO was planning. The white armoured woman merely shrugged, letting them know that she knew just as much as them. No one spoke as the two removed their green and tan armour, replacing it with the Specialist armour for the FEDs.

"Does this look okay?" Cunningham slipped his new helmet on, and had found the correct channel for the radio so he could communicate with everyone else. Rogers had done the same thing as they examined one another, the two lieutenants couldn't help but grin as they stared at their team mates.

"I gotta say, that's a good look for you boys."

"Now, you look just like the rest of those assholes."

Felix watched the entire ordeal unfold with a natural response of skepticism about it all, "That was stupidly fortunate." On the other hand however, it didn't quite translate as well.

"Waddya mean?" Tucker inquired, not quite sure how his methods were being seen in a bad light. Rose stood between them and faced her two disguised subordinates, sharing glances with her redheaded lieutenant throughout their little spout.

"I mean, what if we had ended up with two really fat bad guys?" The grey and orange merc turned his attention to Cunningham, in need of an example, "What size are you, Cunningham? Like a medium?"

"Youth extra large, Sir."

"See?" He exclaimed in a matter-of-factly tone, tossing a hand dramatically in said soldier's direction, "Whole plan. Whole plan would've been ruined. Just 'cause you watch something on TV, you think that it's good idea?

"Felix has a point Tucker," Rose added in as she pulled out her modified sticky detonator, making sure that she had more than enough ammo for it, "you can't really expect things like that to work all the time." Her partner merely dismissed their criticism and went on with the mission prep as Yeong placed a hand on her waist, looking directly at Cunningham.

"Dude, why do you wear youth extra-large?"

He shrugged gently, still adjusting to the armour that wasn't quite a perfect for him, "It's pretty slimming." His friend rolled her eyes humorously.

"Riiight."

"Heeeey uhhh," Everyone's eyes went to Palomo, who had been staying silent in the background shyly, "What about me? Do I get a disguise?" He had a hopeful look on his face underneath that tan helmet, the others knew him long enough to see how his quirky and awkward attitude has gotten him in some bad situations. Considering that he wasn't always taken seriously among all the young recruits, Yeong bit her lip and watched what happened next. Not really expecting much else considering the way Tucker acts towards him on a daily basis.

"No. Palomo, you'll be guarding our escape route."

"Oh, okay." The aqua accented lieutenant nodded in compliance, taking whatever role he can get if he thought it would convenience his Captain. Unfortunately, the Captain in question kept going on.

"It's because I don't trust you."

"Got it."

"Honestly, if you were out in the field, you'd probably get all of us killed."

Palomo felt his confidence shrink a tad bit more as he continued to nod and agree, "I can totally see that. Yeah. Yeah, that'd be me."

"Tucker, stop it." Rose said sternly towards her Co-Captain, walking up to the member of their squad and placing an arm on his shoulder, "we need someone to make sure our escape route is safe. Otherwise, this whole mission won't be as secure as we want it to be. So we're trusting you to make sure that no FEDs come through here and discover us. If they do, let us know immediately alright?"

"Y-Yeah, you've got it. Y-You can count on me!" His smiled returned for a wavering moment before Felix finally took the time to get the ball rolling.

"Alright. Let's get to work…"

They took only a few minutes to successfully hook up the camo unit to Tucker's armour, and he immediately activated it. Now they were ready to go. One by one, each of them left as discreetly as possible, leaving Palomo behind to do his "work". Cunningham and Rogers walking outright towards the base and doing their best to act casual with Tucker following along, Yeong had snuck off to the right of the cave and headed around the to the side.

Rose had laid low and followed Felix outside the cave, going to the left and heading to the stone archways. She heard static over the com and his voice coming through, "Okey dokey, boys and girls. Everyone take your modified sticky detonators, find something that looks expensive and strap a bomb to it."

"I'm heading to the back entrance of the base." She made sure her index finger was just hovering over the trigger as she glanced at Felix one last time before steering to the right and heading towards the incline on the side of the building. Making sure none of the FEDs on patrol caught a flash of white armour passing by, she paid attention on keeping her footsteps as light as possible, quickly zipping by and sticking her back to the wall of the base. Crouching down once more and scanning around her to make sure no one was watching before aiming her sticky detonator at the corner of the base right next to the incline.

"Once you're done head back to the cave."

She pulled the trigger, the beacon-like light flashing red was quite reminiscent to when she first discovered these death traps, "Roger that." Rose slipped her hand over her thigh to grab the spare ammo she had packed up and loaded the detonator while she moved on, she lifted her left hand to tap the small controls on the side of her helmet to make sure the volume of the coms weren't too high so she could listen more carefully for any danger near her.

"You sure you're gonna be okay out there in your armor, Sir?" Rogers asked a tad bit worried over the radio, proceeding to address his other higher up, "Ma'am?" This inquiry earned a confident chuckle from Felix on the other side.

"Don't worry about me, kid…" He was cut off for a moment, the blonde keeping a close eye on her surroundings as she went up the incline. Her vision passing by the mercenary who was just launched a throwing knife at a FED soldier who had caught sight of him, it had lodged into their chest and made them fall to the ground.

"I am fucking awesome…"

She rolled her eyes and continued on, hiding when FEDs came by and planting another bomb on one of their many crates of what she assumed to be weapons or supplies, "We'll be just fine. Focus on keeping cool and using as many as much C4 as needed without looking suspicious."

"Roger that."

As Rose went on to finish her work up top, Yeong had went around and tried to stay out of sight since she was still in her tan armour. Didn't quite blend into the forest area for shit. Her heart was pounding in her chest like a stomping giant, the lieutenant did her best to try and calm it down as she swept the area. The sound of a vehicle nearing closer had jolted her a bit and she hastily ran across the field and against the wall of the metal fortress, it seemed one thing was coming after another when she heard the voices of some FEDs on patrol coming around the corner.

"So, he's really here?"

Her eyes zipped around like a pair of buzzing bees before her eyes landed on an entrance into the base, she slipped inside and stood flat against the wall as they passed by, "Yep, just came in from the city."

"They still got the Freelancer up there?"

"I dunno. Look it up inside." Her body stiffened at that relaxed recommendation, her head tilting to the side to catch a glimpse at the two snow white soldiers just standing there with their backs to her.

"Fuuuuck that. I'm not gonna let him catch me slacking off."

Relief washed over her as she let her breath go and she looked around her, it was dimly lit corridor that curved both ways. She could hear someone typing away farther down the right corridor, so naturally she went the opposite direction and went to the left.

As she walked down the corridor, footsteps had entered the same entrance she had come through causing her to quicken her pace but find the corridor lead to a whole other maze deeper within this building.

"Shit…" The feedback from her radio made her jump slightly as she went against a wall once again, holding back another curse to let the person speak.

"Yeong, do you copy?"

"Yeah, Captain, I copy." She replied, her voice low just in case anybody in the base would overhear. However, it seemed as though a majority of the enemy soldiers were on patrol outside.

"We're almost done. What's your status?"

The redhead's brown eyes peeked around to the intersecting corridor, not seeing any hint of white walking around, "I'm almost finished. Be there soon."

Rogers had radioed in as well, "Captain Tucker, we're heading back to the cave. Where are you?"

"I'm in the lab. Give me a sec." Yeong's eyes widened slightly as she started to look for any signs, trying to find one that would indicate where the lab was. She winced when Felix raised his voice over the radio in disbelief and sudden anger, speedily lowering her volume so she wouldn't bleed out from the ears.

 _Hell of a way to go..._ She thought to herself with a gentle sigh, leaving a bomb to shine red in her place as she turned to the right of her and continued on. Following along with the conversation that was going on between both Tucker and Felix.

"Dude, chill out. I got this."

"Are you fucking kidding me! I specifically told you not to-!...Tucker? Tucker! God damnit!"

 _Must've cut him off,_ Her caffeine brown eyes stayed planted in front of her as she turned the corner once more but stopped in her tracks, blood running cold almost immediately as she stared ahead. Cursing under her breath at the sight of green and grey armour that was all too familiar, "Oh shit…"

There he stood, the menacing aura practically radiating off his body as he walked down the corridor with two other soldiers at his side, and entered a door to what she could see was labeled as the Laboratory.

"Locus is here…" She muttered to herself, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up, making her even more alert than before. "He's here...oh my god, he's here."

A gunshot rang out followed by the sound of a body dropping as well, her limbs becoming stiffer by the second and gradually forming her into a statue. Her feet struggled to move back, her eyes staying glued to the door of the lab.

"Cun-Cunningham? Everything okay?" Palomo's voice could be heard over the radio, Yeong's eyes tripled in size once again in realization as she snapped her head to look behind her. Just another corridor there with no guarantee that it was a way out around the corner, "Uh Jason? Man, what's going on? Uuuhh guys? Cunningham isn't responding."

Her hand shook as she reached for the controls on the side of her helmet to respond to Palomo, her body carefully moving back to the corridor she had come through, "C-Cunningham's down…"

"What?!" Rose exclaimed surprised, she had just risen from her hiding spot, ready to head back to the cave when she heard her lieutenant's voice trembling with fear. She quickly hid herself again, having only forgotten where she was for a moment, "A-Are you sure?"

Yeong was about to reply when the two soldiers that had accompanied Locus had exited the room, immediately spotting her and raising their weapons, "Freeze!" Her heart seemed to pound faster as she darted out of the way of their bullets, her legs pumping as quickly as they could to further the distance between her and her death that stayed on her tail.

"We've gotta go now! They found us out-!" Her voice gave out when she felt something pierce her arm twice as she sped around the second corner, a cry ripping out of her throat while her other hand shot up to her left arm. However, she cried out again, accidently hitting her arm with the detonator that was still in her hand.

"Yeong, get back to the cave!" She leaned against the wall for a moment, hearing their footsteps getting closer, she glanced back and saw that the bomb she had left behind was still at the corner. As the FED with green stripes came around the corner with his red accented team mate right behind him, she pulled the trigger in a hurry, not realizing that she wasn't far enough from it.

"Fuck!" She got blown back and tumbled to the ground, rolling down the corridor, the adrenaline could only help so much in masking the pain of her fresh wounds. Her ears rang for only a few seconds as her mind kept yelling at her to get up, forcing herself to use both arms to remove herself from the ground.

"Goddammit! Everyone move! We are aborting the mission!"

Her breath was deep and heavy, getting off the ground but stumbled and fell against the wall when the ground shook, "I detonated some of the C4 as a distraction, so get out of there!" She took this chance to start moving and radioed in.

"I did the same, FEDs were on my ass…" Yeong picked up the pace as she exited the base, getting into the running again and heading straight to the cave, "I've been hit but I'm moving."

"Get your ass out of there and back to our safe point. There's a good chance they'll be searching for, and disarming the bombs."

"Then I got nothing to worry about." She ditched her detonator and pulled out a standard pistol, gripping it in her right hand, "Rogers, where are you?" Her eyes scanning the hectic scene around her, she aimed and fired at any FEDs that had caught sight of her. Sadly missing half the time, but was on her way just as they were ready to aim and shoot her down.

When no response came in she called in once again, "Rogers?" She continued on running and cursed under her breath, making no stops along the way and avoiding the haze of bullets flying all around her. She spotted Felix entering the cave, her feet quickening and desperate to make it to the safe point. When she entered, Palomo was the first to go in and pull her further inside.

"Yeong, you're alright!"

"Yeah, barely." Yeong replied, heading to the back so she wouldn't be shot once again, "Where's Rogers, and the Captain?"

Tucker kept his eyes on the entrance, trying to catch any sight of both Rose and Rogers anywhere, "They're both still out there, and Locus is here too!"

"Locus is here?!" Felix immediately looked through the scope of his sniper just when the blonde they needed was coming in hot via right side, Locus practically appearing out of thin air a distance away.

"There she is!" The Korean girl cried out, starting to shoot at Locus and the others to distract them. Tucker and Palomo had followed suit however the cold blooded man had a sniper of his own ready, already catching sight of Rose and sending the bullet off to her.

Rose practically screamed through the com as she ducked and rolled, the bullet only skimming the side of her head, "Set off the C4!" Her eyes staying glued to Locus as she was only a few feet away from the cave entrance.

"Come on!"

"What about Rogers?"

Felix pulled out his detonator, ready to pull the trigger, just in time for Rose to tumbled inside and knocked Tucker down with her.

"Get down!"

In mere seconds, all the C4 they had planted had gone off at once in a fiery explosion of reds and orange. The magnitude of the explosions had caused the cave to rumble, everyone moved back in a hasty manner as rocks began to fall and the entrance began to collapse. Rose had gotten up and grabbed Tucker by his arm, pulling him further into the hollow passageways until they were in the clear.

After a while, everything began to settle and everything went silent with the exception of a few heavy breaths going through the radio.

"W-We...we made it?" Palomo gently lowered his rifle, looking at the his fellow team mate who stared down at the ground. Her mind stuck on two people that were now lost to them and less on her still bleeding arm.

"Not all of us…"

Rose had let go of Tucker, who stayed where he was and stared at Yeong, the flash drive obtained now being fiddled with in his hand. She approached her lieutenant and examined the wound the best she could.

"We need to get back as quickly as possible, she's lost a good amount of blood."

Yeong removed her Captain's hands, completely disregarding her concerned and had started walking, "I'll be fine…" Her attention had drifted off to the side and saw the pile of New Republic armour, her frown had turned into a deep scowl as she looked at Tucker.

"Did you get the intel you wanted?" He nodded, raising his hand to show the drive before placing it somewhere safe, she returned the nod and continued on walking away, "Good. Hope it was worth Cunningham and Rogers dying."

Palomo stared after Yeong before running ahead to catch up to her, Felix followed close behind, "Come on. Let's head back home…" Both Rose and Tucker could sense the disappointment potent in his tone of voice, laced with anger that he held down quite well. The blonde's hazel eyes went over to Tucker, who just stared after all three, his head moving and looking over to the discarded armour like Yeong had done.

"Tucker?" She called his name, gaining his attention. A sympathetic look was given that he sadly couldn't see, but the aqua soldier could feel the stare along with the gentle aura she had, "Let's go."

"Yeah…"

They both started walking at their own slow pace, Rose staying with Tucker who had suddenly grown regretful of his impulsive decision.


	14. Author's Note(Please Read!)

Hello everybody, I'm afraid this isn't a new chapter but just an author's note. I apologize for not being able to update as often as you'd like, as well as I'd like. There was a bunch to sort out and do over the summer after I graduated, now I'm just starting college. So that'll be a new kind of workload I'll have to get used to. Not to mention my natural tendency to procrastinate, as well as my mortal enemy perfection(it's a learning curve!) I promise this isn't me saying that I'm quitting on this fic or that I'm giving it up to someone else, I still love this story as much as you do and I have a plan ahead. I will do my best to update as much as possible but please bare with me.

To those who have been here since the beginning, and to those along the way or who are just joining. Thank you so so much for going along this ride with me, I appreciate you guys so much and I love reading the comments. I'm still growing as a writer and I'm very thankful that I have you guys to give me good feedback or just comments. I love to hear what you guys think! You have no idea how much that helps(I'm a bit sensitive when it comes to criticism in general, so it helps me toughen up too).

I also have to thank my friend and fellow writer Pikaskye for helping me with editing and all that jazz, she's a great writer and artist so go check her out.

Again, thank you so much and apologies for all the waiting!

Love you,

Cerri Vane


	15. To Prove Yourself Worthy

Holy fuck, I am still living! It has been a long few(many) months...*raises the holy document, body shaken and lookin like a gremlin* but I have done it! *drops to the ground* College is harder than I thought...*pool of tears forms underneath me* but you know whatevs...*curtains close* Please enjoy the chapter...!

* * *

Yeong sat on the cot of the medical bay, right next to Lieutenant Valdis, her arm wrapped tightly in bandages that were stained with dry blood. She watched in silence while the medic finished up the last of her report, dread conflicted with the need for solace to the point where Yeong did not hear whatever was being told to her. She was looking down at the rough ground, her eyes clouded by dark thoughts. The redhead bit the inside of her cheek as she replayed the battle in her head.

She could vividly remember the back of a monster, his eyes set on something else entirely. If she had made even the slightest mistake back then, it would have caught his attention and she would not even be back home. Two bullet wounds to the arm would have been bland in comparison to a single lead projectile, right through her visor and between the eyes.

But she made it...

On the other hand, two friends of hers were dead and they did not even have the option to bury them.

She bit her lip and faintly catching the metallic taste of blood, her eyes squeezed shut at the thought.

"Even though the bullet didn't do any severe damage, you won't be able to use your left arm in any serious training." Yeong was nudged out of her thoughts by Valdis who tried to get her attention, it took the redhead a moment to recollect herself. She breathed through her nose, a bit of slack in her shoulders but sitting up straight.

Yeong shrugged softly and gave a weak smile, "It's not the first time I've been shot." Valdis scowled a bit, looking at her teammate with sharp olive eyes.

"You make it sound like a goal to be shot."

"Oh, come on Valdis. Don't tell me you don't like my scars." Yeong tried to show a twisted smile that felt wrong on her face.

"That's not the point, Hana." The brunette retorted strictly, smacking her partner's scarred arm.

Berhow, the medic who had patched Yeong up, placed her medical scanner off to the side as she walked off. "I'll go get your prescribed medication."

The brown eyed girl chuckled softly at Valdis, finding amusement in her short-lived spout of sort-of girlfriend lecturing. Her eyes shifting momentarily to the retreating medic before leaning on the brunette's shoulder and planting a gentle kiss to the metal of her armour, hopefully making her feel better.

"I'm fine, Ami…" She glanced up her worrisome partner, "I'm here, aren't I?"

"If you keep being so reckless, maybe not next time." Valdis looked Yeong in the eyes, a frown on her lips, "You've gotta be safe out there." Yeong felt that if this were any other situation, she would be smiling. However, at the moment, with only the images of her dead team mates lying at her feet, she could only manage the twitch of her lips.

"Yes Ma'am." She said as she planted a light peck on the freckled cheek of Valdis, making the young woman close to her give a gentle smile.

"You doin' okay...?"

Yeong tried to keep her composure, closing her eyes for a moment. She thought she would be okay, but…

"Yeah," She said with a nod, "I'm okay…" She opened her eyes once more to look up at her teammate, her lips tightened, "don't worry about it…"

Their eyes stayed on one another for a while before the young strategist sighed in defeat, she would have to let this go for now. She spoke once more, gearing the subject towards something else, "Did you guys get the intel from Tucker?"

"Yeah, Vane and Kimball should be looking through it right now."

Yeong frowned deeply, the reminder of what sacrifice was made to get that Intel would continue to burden her, "Hope they find what they're looking for…"

* * *

 _Another dead end._

Cerri closed the file and moved onto the next, sifting through it as thoroughly as possible and keeping an eye out for any keywords that might help with their search. Kimball stood next to her, looking through her half of the Intel. Unfortunately, most of it contained the usual information... overview of stock and supply, weekly reports on the status of their base, profiles of outpost soldiers, patrol reports…It was beginning to become an eyesore as she soaked in as much relevant info as possible, which was not that much at the moment, and her mind was growing stagnant with every passing file.

She cursed underneath her breath once more as she closed another worthless document, brushing her hand over her ponytail. She bit down on her lip out of habit and glanced over at Kimball, who had continued on with the search mindlessly. "Find anything yet?" She asked.

"No, not yet…" The General replied in an annoyed tone, just as frustrated as her, "There's a hefty load here, but not a lot to work with..." She heaved a sigh and took a step back from the HUD, looking over the documents still floating around on the screen.

Cerri leaned against Kimball's desk, pinching the bridge of her nose and squeezing her eyes tight. She was trying her best not to up and quit on this entire search; the desire to go to her quarters and try to catch a few hours of sleep sounded much more appealing at the moment. However, a voice seemed to creep up on her, whispering words over and over to her like a radio stuck on loop.

 _Thirty-Six...North-West Outpost...North-West Thirty-Six...Outpost Thirty-Six…_

She opened her eyes as she looked at the HUD once again, her brows furrowing as she tried to zero in on the tiny hint. Everything else started to drain of colour, leaving words to pop out and shine brighter like beacons in a dark sea.

She pushed herself off the desk and stepped up to it, her eyes darting around like a frantic fly. The words started to spill out of her mouth, "Thirty-Six...thirty-sixth outpost in the north...west, north-west." Her hand rose to flick opened files out of the way, haphazardly flinging those she deemed unimportant off to the side.

The itch continued to grow stronger the more she searched, soon she brought her other hand into the search in a mindless pursuit of repeated mumbles and keen eyes flicking around.

Kimball stepped forward to speak but was immediately silenced by Cerri, "Stop breathing, you're too loud..." The general stared at her wide-eyed, rather offended by this rude command.

"Excuse me?" Kimball grabbed her shoulder roughly only to be shaken off, she tried to catch the flood of words coming out of her Captain's lips, "Captain Vane." She said in a strict tone, not finding this amusing in the slightest, however her voice seemed to be blocked out and far from Cerri's main focus.

"North-West Outpost Thirty-Six, North-West Outpost Thirty-Six..." The ravenette's drabbles continued on, isolating select files that were reopened and skimmed through. Her hands whisked across the holographic screen in vivid motions, her fingers practically jabbing at the commands at lightning speed only to move onto the next shortly after. In seconds, there were barely any documents opened, leaving those that Cerri's mind pinpointed. A quick breath was drawn into her lungs, dropping her hands to her side and stopping her movement, "F.A.C. Outpost Thirty-Six…" Her dark eyes blinked rapidly, becoming fully aware of her surroundings once again. She gently took a step back; her mind began to pulse as a warning for a headache coming her way. Cerri sighed gently and looked over to Kimball.

"...It's one of the most secure FED outposts closest to the jungle canyon, north-west of it."

The woman in question was glaring at her Captain before her eyes shifted to the HUD, skimming over all the information herself, leaving a rather perplexed look on her face. Cerri watched her General, waiting for a response other than silence, "Ma'am?" The blue and tan soldier blinked in response before returning her attention to her tactician, not wasting a second in asking.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?" She replied a bit confused by the question, expecting a short praise instead of the blatant question that was presented to her. It wasn't it obvious what she did?

" _That."_ Kimball said as she pointed to the files on F.A.C Outpost Thirty-Six. Some reports regarded the arrival of the captured soldiers from the jungle canyon: Agent Washington, Drill Sergeant...uh, Sarge, Private Franklin Donut, one robotic maintenance unit and the dismantled parts of a Mantis Assault Droid, "How were you able to find information on them so quickly?"

"What do you mean? I just…" The tactician tried to explain the best she could, but came to no conclusion that seemed reasonable, "I just...It just sort of _happened_ …"

Kimball nodded in response, settling for that answer for the moment, "Alright...fine. Don't ever talk to me like that again."

"Oh," Cerri's expectancy for praise completely crashed, she averting her eyes and returned to the vital information in front of them, "right. Sorry Ma'am..." She could still feel her commanding officer staring intently at her through her blue visor. Cerri bit her lip once again underneath her helmet, as she slowly reached to touch the screen and expand the report from weeks ago.

 _20/09/2558_

The same day they were all attacked by the FEDs and rescued by the Rebels...well not all of them were rescued, of course. Otherwise they would not be in such a mess.

"Anyways…" Cerri breathed rather exhausted, she scrolled through the report, "They were all brought to Outpost Thirty-Six after the battle due to all being in critical condition, but since they didn't have the proper medical equipment there they were rushed to Outpost Thirty-Seven…" She moved onto the next file, searching for said Outpost that they were transported to, "they've been moved around a lot…"

"Do you know what their location is right now?" Kimball asked, skimming through the Intel shown and following along with her Captain's explanation. The woman in turn nodded.

"Back to Thirty-Seven from Fourty," The raven-haired woman pulled up their 'itinerary', her heart dropped when she saw their names once more, "they're gonna be moved to Armonia in a week…" She began to bit down on her lip, not surprised if bruises were to begin forming or if she was drawing blood now, muffling the curse that came, "shit…"

"If we plan to rescue them now, it'll be too risky for our troops. Armonia is practically untouchable, Outpost Thirty-Seven is still a bit out of our reach as well."

Cerri frowned as she stared down at the earth beneath her, "Damnit…" Her hands balled up into fists as she began to pace around the room, her mind trying to find a solution to this problem. Maybe there was a slight chance they could save them…

The only problem was, could they risk losing troops in the process?

"At least we know their location, that way we can prepare."

"That isn't good enough…" She looked over at her commanding officer, "it's not nearly good enough, Kimball. Once they reach Armonia they'll be completely out of our reach and you know it."

"Vane," Kimball retaliated with an edge to her tone, "I know how important it is for you and the others to your friends back. But we _cannot_ risk the lives of so many troops at once. We'll find a way to get them back." She paused and sighed gently, "but today isn't that day…"

A dark sensation settled at the bottom of Cerri's stomach at the thought of Wash and the others being stuck with the FEDs another minute more, practically trapped in an icy cage miles and miles away, she did her best to take deep breaths and relax this painful emotion. Forcing it to the back of her head and letting her voice of reason takeover once again.

"Alright…" She nodded slowly, sucking in air through her nose and releasing it from her mouth, "Okay...But Rose and the boys won't see eye to eye on this."

Kimball nodded as well in response, "I know…"

They both sighed once again in unison and went back to the matter at hand, going through the rest of this Intel. They would have to talk with the Reds and Blues soon enough. However, when sifting through the reports for any other significant information, something rather interesting had caught Cerri's eye.

 _Civilians_

She stopped and slowly backtracked, returning to the word contained within this report from Outpost Thirty-Seven, her brows furrowed as she began to read.

 _22/10/2558_

 _Two female civilians found near Outpost Twenty-Two were apprehended on suspicions of being Rebel spies, both held captive until transported to Outpost Thirty-Seven three days after, on the 20th of October..._

"Which one was Outpost Twenty-Two again?" She asked absentmindedly, the General glanced at her for a moment before sliding a file in her direction.

"The outpost that Tucker, Rose and Felix infiltrated on their mission this morning."

Cerri nodded once again, receiving the file and revising it quickly, "Right…" She pushed it aside for the moment and went back to the report.

 _Both were sent through examination; found to have simple bruises, a concussion, and disorientation. However, one was much more paranoid than the other and would occasionally have fits of aggravation when Locus would approach them._

"Weird…" She mumbled to herself as she skipped over a few paragraphs and skimmed through sentences, chopping up the whole report and trying to take the most important pieces. Kimball had caught her words and peeked at the report she was reading, "What is it?"

Cerri had ignored the inquiry and continued reading, engaged in the Intel.

 _When interrogated, they had revealed their names to be Michelle Adams and Kayla Hayln. Neither had any clue as to where they were, why they were here and how they had gotten here._

"Michelle and... Kayla?" The words seemed to lag in her mind as she reread the sentence repeatedly, the buried emotions inside her slowly resurfacing once again. Her heart started to pound rapidly as her hands started to shake, frantically searching for more clarification on the two.

"Captain Vane?" She completely dismissed her commanding officer's voice that calling for her attention. A sickening feeling piling up at the pit of her stomach like a deep lake of fear, ready to drag her down by the ankles.

 _I-It couldn't be them..._ She thought as she read through and moved on, trying to find any photographic evidence to satisfy her need for solid evidence, _there's no way that it could be-_

Her entire body froze when she felt a shiver run down her spine, wide eyes like saucers glued to two profiles up on display. Faces that were undeniably the ones of her closest friends with the edges of their lips pulled down into frowns, a bruise or two on their fair skin and a wild look in their bright eyes.

"...them."

" _Them?"_ Kimball repeated rather lost as to what Cerri was getting at, but tried to follow along the best she could, "Do you know them?"

The ravenette continued to stare at the profiles, the light in her eyes flickering weakly as she mumbled, "They shouldn't be here…"

"Vane, what are you talking about? What do you mean they shouldn't be here?" Her questions were ignored once more which caused a hand to grab hold of Cerri's armoured shoulder just rough enough to finally get an answer, however the General could not see the flurry of emotions hidden behind the warm coloured visor.

"They're here. Our friends…" Without further explanation, she turned to Kimball once more as her tone turned sombre. "We have to get to the briefing with the others..."

Kimball begrudgingly went over to her desk and turned on the intercom, calling down the Captains that were busy with their troops, "Grif, Simmons, and Caboose, report to my office immediately." Cerri shut down the HUD after keeping all the necessary info in one place and waited for Kimball, the General exited the room with her Captain following close behind.

 _They're here..._ Those words kept repeating in her head as she tried to keep calm, feeling tears brimming in her eyes, _How could they have ended up here…? What happened?_ She drew in a deep breath to try and keep them at bay, continuing on with their walk as she clenched her fists. _I have to tell Rose about this..._

* * *

Both Rose and Tucker waited in painful silence for their fellow COs to arrive, the pair stood at the bottom of the ramp staring off into the distance. The gentle blonde glanced at the aqua soldier close to her briefly before her eyes went back to the bleak walls of Kimball's office, she cleared her throat as she tried to regain her voice.

"...It's not your fault, Tucker…" She winced when she heard the slight crack in her words, hazel orbs moving towards the man that was being addressed. He had a slouch in his posture as his head fell down, like it was being pulled by weights.

"Sure. Whatever…" He replied in a cold and distant tone, Rose shied away slightly. A deep frown now forming on her lips as she looked down at her boots before hearing the sound of heavy footsteps coming down the ramp, she looked up to see Caboose and the others enter at a hurried pace. They could practically feel the painfully bright smile on Caboose's face as he rushed up to them with open arms, "Tucker!"

Said Captain rose his gun slightly as a sign for Caboose to stop his movement all together, however the message was not clear enough. His already sour mood worsened with this.

"If you hug me, I will shoot you." He said, stating the ultimatum without a sliver of hesitation or care, which made Rose wince. Caboose however, was unfazed by this rudeness and continued with his advances of affection.

"Ah it's okay Tucker. I-I know you're more into groping." With a grin of anticipation, he flexed his armoured digits and tried to reach for his long-time teammate's chest, "Come on, let's grope."

Tucker quickly pushed his hand to side and in the direction of their white armoured ally, "Nah, I'm good. Maybe Rose wants some though." The blonde rose her hands in quick defence, her face turning bright red and her voice breaking for just a moment like an old record.

"N-No, I'm-I'm fine! Maybe another time!"

Caboose lowered his arms, pouting in disappointment, he had nothing to occupy his hands now. Grif stood off to the side watching this short, and not to mention ridiculous, interaction before getting to the matter at hand. He had some snacks in his secret stash that were calling his name.

"When'd you get back?"

"A little while ago."

"What happened?" Simmons asked, wondering why Tucker's mood was so negative. Both him and Rose looked behind their friends and watched as a certain merc pushed off the wall, expecting him to give them personal insight on the recent mission gone wrong.

"Oh, I'll tell you what happened." His tone cut through like a knife and forced Rose to glance off to the side, not wanting to face the wrath of his glare for the millionth time since they got back. Luckily, the harsh brunette's visor slid over to Tucker. "Captain Tucker here decided to disobey orders and took it upon himself to recover a hard drive full of Federal Army secrets. A decision that only cost him the lives of two of his men."

For once, Felix was serious, he clearly sounded disappointed and infuriated with how things went. Which was no surprise, however...his mood completely switched in no time at all. "That's a pretty damn good trade if I do say so myself!"

Both Tucker and Rose became dumbfounded, the dark emotions that had been at the pit of their stomachs suddenly draining away. "What?" Felix seemed rather amused by their reaction as he let out a laugh and continued on.

"Man, you should've seen this guy! He was all," The merc rose his DMR with a bold expression upon his face for only a moment, beginning his rather odd theatrical mimicry of the generic action hero. Even copying the low baritone voice to sell the show. All the captains watched him, stunned by this disturbing burst of childish nature.

 _First, Cerri hits on Washington..._ Rose's mind slowly drifted back to her close friend's antics involving said Freelancer back at the canyon, before they were quickly replaced with similar yet more, uh, _intense_ interactions between her and this gun-for-hire, _now this is who she chooses to play around with…_

As the mercenary in question finished his ramblings, Rose let out a gentle sigh.

"Wait, I thought you were pissed!" Tucker exclaimed, finally saying what him and the woman next to him were assuming. Felix finished with his little drama and returned to the issue at hand.

"Oh, do not get me wrong," His voice continued on with a gleeful yet threatening undertone, making Rose unconsciously move a bit further away from him, "I wanted to beat your worthless skull into the ground until it was paste. But look where we are now, you took a risk and it paid off."

"Paid off?!" Tucker yelled shocked. Rose cued in as well, pointing out the obvious problem that did not seem to faze the merc one bit.

"Felix, two of our troops are dead."

Felix scoffed, brushing it off like it was nothing. "And two more will probably die tomorrow. Seriously, what don't you people get about that?"

"That's enough, Felix." The three of them stopped with their little dispute and looked over to the entrance of the office, where Kimball came in with Cerri following close behind. The brunette cleared his throat, feeling both of them glare at him out of the corner of their eyes as they passed by.

"Just sayin..." His cocky tone immediately dissipated as the air in the room shifted drastically, he glanced over at Cerri who ignored his very presence and kept her distance. Both Tucker and Rose, unfortunately, between them.

"Tucker," Kimball addressed the aqua soldier, gaining everyone else's attention in the process, "your choice cost two men their lives" His eyes dropped down to the ground momentarily, "...but it also granted us access to valuable information. Whether or not this was the right thing to do is a conclusion you'll have to come to on your own, I'll leave it at that. Right now, the eight of us need to have a talk."

Grif asked, not quite in the mood for an intense conversation, "Could it not be as depressing as the talk we're having right now?" He would much rather start plans for the new hammock he convinced his subordinates to make. Cerri sighed heavily and looked over at Grif.

"We found out where the guys are."

Tucker's eyes widened, "Wait, you found them?" He sounded excited about the news, his black-armoured friend nodded however keeping a solemn aura. This was looked over.

"Holy shit, that's awesome!"

"Woah woah, wait a minute," Felix cut in, surprisingly shocked which made a certain girl roll her eyes, "when did this happen?"

"We kept digging through the files Tucker brought back. There wasn't much to go off of but eventually we found them…" Kimball said, giving a simple rundown of the important stuff, "And from the looks of it, they've been moved around a bit.

"Finally," Simmons exclaimed, completely relieved by this news, "we can rescue Sarge and everything will go back to normal! Isn't that great Grif?"

"Great is a strong word Simmons. I would've gone with tolerable."

"Not quite…" Cerri sighed gently, having to bring in the reality of the situation, "They've been moving around fairly regularly, it won't be stopping anytime soon…" Her eyes trailed away from Simmons, who had slumped in his stance, and returned her attention to their commanding officer.

"Right now, they're held up in a compound just north of a nearby mountain range. But in about a week it sounds like they'll be transferred to the capital, a place that is very…" Kimball heaved a defeated sigh, "very out of our reach."

Everyone could practically hear Kimball's lips being tugged down into a frown as she spoke. However, the Reds and Blues could not quite understand that just yet.

"Sooo, then we go get them now? Is that…" Simmon's eyes shifted from side to side as his brow raised expectantly, "that's a thing we can do, right?"

"I don't think that'll be possible," Rose bit down on the inside of her cheek as she thought about the scale of it all, "wouldn't that take a lot of manpower?" She asked as she glanced to her side in the direction of Felix.

"Yeah," The merc nodded in response, "the compound is twice the size of the one we raided. Breaking in would be suicide." He paused for a moment as he weighed the odds, putting all his weight on one leg, his brow raised, "Breaking someone out would be...like, suicide and a bunch of puppies dying."

Cerri could not help but comment with slight edge to her tone, "I'm guessing you tried that yourself?" Felix glared at her, turning himself in her direction to face her defensive figure directly. Ignoring Rose and Tucker uncomfortably caught in the middle.

"Yeah, and spoiler alert! It didn't end well."

"Well, if just one person didn't work out, then maybe a squad could? Maybe a platoon?" Rose suggested sheepishly to soften the tension, and also trying her best to find a way for this situation to work in their favour. Cerri glanced down at her, dismissing Felix once more.

"We can't do that if all of our troops are inexperienced, they could easily be killed."

"Shockingly enough, she has a point."

Cerri's brows furrowed as she glared at Felix, an aura of annoyance exuding from her, "You know what, _Scout_ -"

Kimball did not waste anytime time cutting this potential fight short with a strict voice, not wanting to have one at the moment. Or ever for that matter. "Captain Vane." The woman in question clenched her fist and went back in her place, growling lowly underneath her breath as she felt Felix's eyes prying into her with their usual triumphant arrogance. She crossed her arms and seethed, letting Kimball speak.

They all heard a tired sigh coming from their General, imagining the bags under her eyes that must accompany them, "When I first heard about you four. I envisioned strong, daring, respectable soldiers…"

Kimball's eyes scanned over them in a stretched out pause, Rose fidgeted a tiny bit underneath her momentary line of sight. She spoke up, wishing for her to continue on, knowing there was a downside to that statement.

"But…?"

Kimball's brow ticked up as she took in a deep breath, stressing her words, " _But_ , now that I've come to know you, I found that you're something else entirely. It turns out you're all a bunch of-"

"Cowards."

"Losers."

"Idiots?"

"Spacemen."

Cerri sighed heavily, glaring at all four of the simulation troopers from the corner of her eye, "Yes, but I don't think that's what she meant…"

"You're all misfits." Her dark brown eyes were directed back to Kimball, where everyone else's attention was once more, "You're oddballs that don't exactly fit in." Kimball momentarily turned her attention to both Rose and Cerri, who straightened up their form a bit, "And you two don't exactly count in that but you are quite…" Kimball paused for moment with slight hesitation, clearly trying to find the right word delicately, " _interesting_ on your own..."

 _Oh..._ Rose felt like her bubble was just burst, she stayed silent and now tight lipped. Cerri scowled underneath her helmet, not exactly liking the way she said that word, however she kept her mouth shut and let Kimball continue with her little monologue.

"Which is why my men all look up to you and why morale has been at an all-time high; because they can relate to you. Because together we're an army of underdogs and outcasts. But, as of right now, I cannot authorize a rescue mission of this scale."

The Reds and Blues look down in disappointment while Rose frowned and looked over at Cerri who said nothing, the woman's soft hazel eyes looked back at their General.

"Interestingly enough, you work well when you fight together. But, individually, you still haven't shown what it takes to lead others. Which is why I'm giving you five days."

Rose threw up her eyebrows up in surprise at those words, _"Five days?"_ Kimball nodded in her direction, speaking to the small group of oddballs.

"Five days to assemble a smaller team. One comprised of the best of each of your platoons." A slight smile lingering with hope appeared on the blonde's lips, "And if you can convince me that you're ready by the end of those five days, then you will have my support."

" _Five days?!"_

Cerri's head hung for a moment as she thought about the offer, "That's not a lot of time…" Her sharp eyes glanced up at Kimball, trying to see through the shiny blue visor and maybe see the facial expression behind it.

"Well…" The tan armoured leader shut off the HUD before glancing back at them, they could all feel the expectant look passing through her visor, "it's all you've got!"

Rose slowly nodded to herself, the pounding of her heart keeping her grounded in reality while her mind was in a whole other place. Just five days to choose who they thought was best, on top of it try and convince Kimball that they were capable of doing this incredibly dangerous mission. Rose had already made up her mind, what choice did she have other than to say yes to this. It was the only way they were going to get home…

Her brows furrowed as her hopeful smile drooped slightly, Yeong is injured though, if she can't recover in five days...

"...Yeah, um," Rose jumped slightly at the sound of Felix's voice and looked in his direction, "if this is really happening, I'd like to be paid in advance."

 _This guy..._ A sigh left her, deeply unimpressed with the merc close by to her. She shook her head slightly and glanced at her co-captains, _We can do this...at least, I hope we can..._

* * *

Cerri proceeded to walk out of Kimball's office right after everyone had left, the only other person left other than herself was, of course, the last person she wanted to be left alone with. The tension rose the instant his eyes settled on the back of her helmet and he followed, the distance between them gradually falling short which caused the tactician nothing but discomfort. Her defensive mindset was returning as she felt him grab her by the shoulder, and stop her from moving further down the nearly empty hall.

"We need to talk."

"That's right," She quickly brushed his hand off and took a step back, "there's a slot open for tonight's patrol. Khan's wounded from a mission and needs someone to fill in, go check the schedule."

Felix rolled his eyes annoyed by the way she was trying to dodge him, and grabs her by the shoulder again. A bit rougher than before. "Yeah, as much as I love standing around in the cold at night. I'd rather, you know, sleep?"

She brushed him off again, glaring at him slightly but avoided eye contact at all costs, " _Wonderful_ , do that instead. Now, if you'll excuse me-" Cerri stopped short when her back was suddenly against the wall, a faint gasp escaped her and her body stiffened for a moment. The entire hall was empty, not another soul around to give her an out...Her heart pounded in her chest with an unwavering feeling of fear, it almost felt like a rush. She could not entirely tell if it was good or bad at the moment.

Felix had noticed her form go frozen like a stone and lowered his arm so she would not be caged in, "Can you slow down for a second so we can just talk?"

"What is there to talk about?" She crossed her arms defensively, her shoulders slouched a bit as her head hung. Cerri did her best to brush off the intense atmosphere they were producing and glance up at him through her visor, his eyes penetrated through like daggers. She felt herself shrink a bit more.

"You know what I want to talk about, so can you stop playing little Miss Defensive?" Felix asked in a snarky tone as he placed his hands on his hips, a bitter frown formed on the young woman's lips as she looked him directly in the visor and barked back.

"There is nothing to talk about, _Felix_. What happened last night will not be spoken of, if you try and talk to me about it again or I hear it going around the base. I swear to whatever fucking God is out there that-"

"That what? You'll kick my ass? Cuz we both know that'll be a fucking miracle."

Cerri's mouth hung open for a moment, not sure how to silence him anymore. Her brain came up with nothing. A well of anger started rising from the pit of her stomach, birthed from this inherent hostility. It filled her every vein and was about to burst out of her. Cerri's fists clenched and she grit her teeth, _Mother-!_

She roughly pushed passed him and sped down the hall, letting out an aggravated roar in frustration. Felix watched her retreat with a slight grin on his face, glad that he could still get under her skin. _Now if only she wasn't so stubborn…_


End file.
